The Day My Perfectly Normal Life Exploded
by AHaddock3
Summary: When a perfectly normal mortal named Sarah who knows PJO and HTTYD like the back of her hand accidentally meets up with Percy and Annabeth, they find themselves transported to a place of magic, Vikings and monsters, where only Percy's sword, Annabeth's wit, and Sarah's know-how can save them. PLEASE READ AUTHOR'S NOTES!
1. Son of the Sea god

**A/N Hi, this is just an idea I had, we'll see where it goes...**

Chapter one

My week sucked until I met the Son of the Sea god.

Percy Jackson? Yeah. That guy.

I wasn't all that cool, or sporty, or anything, but still, it was pretty cool. I didn't have many friends anyway. I lived with my parents and four siblings (yes, four) and with that many kids, there was no time for me. That was fine. I read anything I could get my hands on, from The Chronicles of Narnia at the age of six to steampunk novels and fanfiction at sixteen.

I was a master at anything Star wars, lord of the rings, how to train your dragon, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson (and anything related), Disney, and some other stuff, and I wasn't too bad at Marvel or Transformers, or Garfield the cat. But I feel like I read to fill a hole in my life. I don't know, maybe I just wanted my own adventure, maybe I just wanted attention, maybe I wanted to just be happy.

True love, I already had. The catch was that I never saw him. His mom didn't like me.

Anyway, that week I'd gone on a school trip to New York. Nobody really talked to me, and so I was on the way to the library at the moment, pouting on a bus. Then the doors opened, and I looked up, 'cause hey, I'm curious about bus people. Yeah, I know I'm weird. My heart almost stopped in suprise. I _knew_ those two.

Dark hair, sea-green eyes, muscular, skinny, obviously battle-hardened, he looked like he could take down a hellhound without even looking.

The other was blond, with gray eyes and a book-heavy backpack, plus the clincher: a Yankees ball cap tucked into her back pocket.

 _It was them!_

Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, whom I had read every book and/or short story there was to read about!

Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena!

I was frozen. I watched them take a seat near the back of the bus. the only thought going through my head was _Oh, gods._

Honestly, I was a Christian, but if there was other gods (if) I didn't want to annoy them. So I always thought in terms of gods. Also because of the whole "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain" thing, so I used the names of _other_ gods in vain. Take that, rules.

I wanted to meet them. And honestly, I was like the Oracle to them. Kind of. I knew _everything_ about them. So I got up and moved back to their seat. I decided to act the Oracle. Sort of.

"Hey, Annabeth. Hey, Perseus."

They looked up. I could tell from their expressions that they thought I was monster, god, or an otherwise immortal.

"Mind if I join you?"

They exchanged a glance.

"Of course." Said Percy politely.

I did so.

"So," I said. "It's nice to finally meet you. Perseus Jackson, hero of the first prophecy, decider in the second, and all around hero."

He instantly looked guarded.

"And Annabeth," I went on. "I know just as much about you as I know about him."

"Who are you?" Annabeth asked bluntly.

My name was Sarah, but my mom used to call me Songbird, before the other kids showed up. And I liked the sound of that, so that's what I told her.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Okay then, _what_ are you?"

"Regular mortal."

"Really?" Percy asked. I knew he didn't believe me.

"Yep. Can't even see through the Mist."

They both looked unconvinced.

"Then how come you know who we are?" Percy pressed.

I raised an eyebrow.

"You two are famous. Really famous. Like, major celebrity screaming fans famous. It's just that nobody really believes that you're real." I sighed. "More loss, them."

Annabeth looked like she wanted to punch me in the face in frustration. _Cool,_ I thought.

"Look, if you want to know how everyone knows you, ask Riordan."

Percy's brow furrowed. "The zombie?"

I was floored for a minute. "What?" Then it clicked. "No, Jackson, not the zombie, your Camp Half-Blood record keeper."

Annabeth now looked murderous. "When I find him.." she muttered.

"Annabeth!" I said in a mock surprised tone. "No killing record keepers." She glared at me. "I wasn't planning on it."

I laughed. I decided I wanted to find out what was going on in their world.

"So...Leo Valdez."

Their eyes clouded with grief.

 _So. After Gaea. Interesting."_

I softened my voice. "He's alright, you know." They both frowned and shook their heads. "He's dead." Percy said bluntly.

"Nope. Very much alive and cracking dumb jokes. He found his way back to Ogygia after Festus revived him."

Hope shone in their eyes. "How do you know?" Annabeth asked, still wary. I shook my head. "Again: ask Riordan." I lowered my voice. "It's almost like the gods granted him knowledge of everything if he made it all out to be fiction."

Okay, maybe telling them Leo was alive was out of line. It wasn't my story, I had no right, and who knew how much of the future I had just disrupted. I didn't care. I hated seeing people in pain. Maybe that was my fatal flaw, or whatever, being unable to see pain without trying to alleviate it. Who knows.

A thought occurred to me.

"Hey...Wait a minute." They were still not done processing the news, so I continued, asking myself the question. "In stories I've read, the only reason anyone normal ever meets anyone who's not, who has superpowers or whatever, it means that something bad is going to happen to them and they're about to be pulled into an adventure. I have seen no bad things since I've seen you two, except maybe Annabeth's glares, so does that mean nothing bad is _going_ to happen?"

They were still staring at me blankly. Then a wave of darkness overtook us, and I found myself thinking, _Why in the name of all the gods did I have to ask?_


	2. I really have to do this?

**A/N Wow, I didn't think this would get so much attention!**

 **Review replies;**

 **AngelWingsRocks: Thank you! Yes, they are. :)**

 **Zoha Ven: Thank you! I will.**

Chapter two

I blinked, completely disoriented. Just a second ago I was on the bus with Percy and Annabeth, and now...I strained my eyes, but couldn't see anything. It was too dark. I could feel Percy and Annabeth on either side of me, though, and hear their breathing, which was speeding up.

"Where are we?" Percy demanded.

"What did you do?" Annabeth followed up with, almost in the same breath.

"I'm not sure where we are," I said, "and I didn't do anything. I'm just as disoriented as you are."

Percy uncapped Riptide, and in the resulting glow I saw that we were in a sort of tunnel, made of... _bookshelves?_

"Shut it off!" I hissed. "Now!"

Startled, Percy obeyed. "What?" He asked.

"Hush!" I whispered frantically. "I think I might know where we are. Annabeth, you're closest to the wall. What's it made of?"

I heard her moving, brushing her hand against the wall. "Stone," she said.

 _Not good._ I thought.

"Perseus, what are the bookshelves made of?" I asked. He was closest to them. Again, I heard movement.

"Wood." He reported. "Heavy, badly cut."

My breathing accelerated. _Oh, Thor._

"We need to find a window," I whispered, as quietly as possible while still being heard.

"Do you know where we are?" Annabeth had picked up the hint and whispered as well.

I swallowed hard. "I think so. I need a window to make sure."

"There." Percy pointed. A bit further down the corridor there was a window. I ran to it as quietly as I could and looked out.

Far below, there were people. Vikings, I could tell by their helmets. And then the clincher: they had large animals on chain-leashes. I couldn't make out the animals, because they were black and it was dark out, but I knew for a fact that they were large, winged, reptilian, and had horns like huge drills on their heads.

I turned around, unable to control the shaking in my legs.

"I know where we are now," I said, in what I hoped was a good impression of Hiccup, from _Riders of Berk,_ episode whatever, _Defiant One._

"We're in the library."

* * *

I wish I could say that they cowered in terror, or whimpered, or something like that, but they didn't. In fact, I could hear the incredulity in their voices.

"Are you serious?"

"A library?"

"How is that dangerous?"

"Keep it down," I hissed. They quieted, but I could tell they weren't happy about it.

I tiptoed over to them (well, as well as anyone can tiptoe in sneakers on a stone floor) and whispered, "You both need to do exactly as I tell you, or we're all going to die."

That floored them. I could tell by the sound of their breathing.

"Can you do that?"

"Yes." Annabeth said. "Yeah," said Percy.

"Okay," I whispered. "We're on the fourth floor. On the third floor, somewhere along the perimeter of the building, by a window, there's a book. It's called _A Hero's Guide To Deadly Dragons,_ by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Second."

"What kind of a name is that?" Percy interrupted in a whisper.

"Sshh!"

"Okay, okay. Continue."

I glared for a minute in the dark, then did so.

"If we pull out the book, it will open a secret tunnel. That's our only way out. The main entrance is guarded by...well, let's just say you don't want to meet them. The tunnel is guarded too, but those guardians are way easy to deal with." I paused. "Noise and light will mean our deaths. The library is patrolled by a single librarian, called the Hairy Scary Librarian."

Percy snorted.

"Shut up, Percy." Annabeth said.

I went on.

"He carries two weapons he calls his Heart-Slicers. Your sword won't hurt him, Jackson, he's mortal. Plus, he's a really skilled swords-man. Not as good as that Chrysais or Chrysaos guy, but almost."

Percy started to speak, but I hushed him and continued.

"The library is in permanent lockdown because these people have a deep mistrust of knowledge." I took a deep breath.

"They're Vikings."

Silence, except our breathing.

"Okay." said Annabeth. "Why not?"

"Let's go." Percy agreed.

I sighed in relief. Honestly, I hadn't known what to expect their reactions to be.

"The light from Riptide should be safe." I said.

Percy uncapped it. In its glow, I saw that Percy and Annabeth had linked hands. I turned away.

"This place is built like a maze," I whispered. "it's almost a labrinth."

Annabeth nodded. "Okay."

So we set off into the library, having no idea where we were going.

* * *

"Hey, Songbird." Annabeth beckoned me over. "Is this it?" She pointed out a book to me and I walked over to check it.

We had been searching for hours, we were all tired, but knew better than to shorten the search by splitting up, because then we'd never find each other again.

I peered down at the spine and could almost make it out...

"Hey, Jackson. Shine that light over here, would you?"

He came over, and in the blade's steady glow I could make out the title clearly.

 _A Hero's Guide To Deadly Dragons._

Author? H. H. H. II.

"We've found it."

Percy let out a whoop of jubilation.

Annabeth and I turned horrified eyes on him and made frantic shushing gestures, but it was too late. He clapped a hand over his mouth and looked properly sheepish, but I froze in terror.

We were silent, and in the silence we heard...nothing. Nothing at all.

Then...

 _scriitch scraatch scriitch scraatch_

"He's coming." I whispered. The Librarian scrapes his swords on the floors when he's hunting intruders.

Annabeth was the only one who kept her head. She snatched at the book, but I caught her wrist.

"No!" I hissed. "There are little piranha-like dragons on the other side. We need to put them to sleep. Don't ask me why, but they hate whistling. It makes them drowsy."

Annabeth nodded, apparently beyond thinking anything of the sort was crazy...I mean, this girl had tangled with the earth Goddess, who was the grandmother of her mother's father...you know what? Forget it.

Percy looked incredulous. "Whistling?" He said.

"Yes." I said. "We're going to have the whistle the most annoying songs we know."

Percy looked very...well, actually, he looked like he couldn't decide whether to be amused or to not believe me.

I nodded to Annabeth, who pulled the book from the shelf.

The wall opened, and we found ourselves staring into a tunnel filled with tiny little dragons...who were all asleep.

"So much for that," Percy said.

"They're poisonous, Jackson," I said. "They're only gonna be asleep as long as we don't touch them."

The floor was littered with the little things, so our only option was to go in whistling and sort of dance through the mess. I told Percy and Annabeth so, and they nodded.

"Okay," I said. "On the count of three. One, two, three."

Ironically, we all began whistling the exact same song: _It's a Small World._

I almost burst out laughing, but didn't. We had almost made it off the third floor when we heard a voice behind us, and old man's voice, cracked with age and insanity and isolation:

"Oooohh, little children in _my library?_ "

 _Run,_ I mouthed. They did so without question (stopping their whistling), and the old man did not follow, but we could still hear his voice, wailing after us:

"Naughty children, _naughty naughty children!_ Naughty children must be punished!"

We had bigger problems, though. The dragons were waking up. We kept running, dodging the annoying little things. I hadn't told Percy and Annabeth exactly how poisonous these dragons were, because I didn't want to freak them out too bad, but really, they were so poisonous, they made Kampe's swords look like a child's chemistry experiment.

My breath started coming in gasps and wheezing. "Almost...there," I choked out.

You know, honestly, it's really frustrating to be around demigods, who are so in shape that it makes the rest of us look bad...not that I was in shape at all...Moving on!

We finally hit the door at ground level. I pulled and pushed at it, but it was locked.

"Move." Percy said. He attacked the lock with Riptide. Don't ask me how that worked, but the lock fell away in less than ten seconds, steaming.

We pushed open the door and ran out into the night. I knew the Librarian would raise the alarm to the guards and their Driller Dragons, so we needed to get off this island _now._

"Perseus," I wheezed, "we need a boat. Harbor's over there." I waved my hand off to the front of the library. "I'll distract the guards when they come."

"Guards?" Annabeth asked.

"No time...to talk. Move or we're dead."

They did so, and I scrambled to keep up. We found a boat and tumbled into it. It wasn't big, maybe the same size boat Astrid had played Heather in, somewhere in _Riders of Berk._

I turned to see them both facing me, arms crossed.

"Okay," Annabeth said. "How come you know so much about this place?"

"Who are you?" Percy shot at me.

"We are not going anywhere until you explain." Annabeth insisted.

I could see the faint outlines of the Driller Dragons approaching over the rocks.

"I'll tell you later. We need to leave _now_."

"No."

The dragons were getting closer.

"Cast off, Jackson."

"Not until you tell us what's going on."

"I know just as much as you do, now _cast off!"_

"Not a chance!"

The dragons were so close I could see the horns...and smell them, an awful smell, like dead fish left in the sun for a week. How was it the Percy and Annabeth couldn't smell that?

" _Damn you, Jackson, cast off **NOW**!"_

I could see the hurt in his eyes, but was too scared to feel more than a small stab of guilt. I was shocked at myself, though. I never swore.

Behind him, the alpha of the Driller pack roared.

Percy and Annabeth turned to see the pack of Drillers behind them.

"Oh." Percy said. "Hello."

They stopped, clearly puzzled.

" _ **CAST OFF!"**_ I screamed.

The boat swiftly untied itself and shot away from the dock so fast that Annabeth and I both fell over, our backpacks (which were hanging loose) coming off and hitting each other in the head. I have a feeling hers was heavier than mine.

Percy was doing his "son of Poseidon" thing, making the boat go faster than it would have normally. The roars of the Driller Dragons were getting fainter.

I struggled to my feet, clutching my head, and stumbled to the prow, where I sat down heavily.

"Tone it down a little, Jackson." I mumbled. "They can't catch us. They won't be leaving that island anytime soon."

He didn't say anything, but the boat slowed. I looked up to see Annabeth and Percy sitting together at the stern, watching me, their hands entwined again.

I sighed heavily. "Okay. You want the truth? I'm completely clueless as to why we're here. The gods must be playing some kind of cruel trick on us. I mean, I've never had any adventures, except maybe falling out of a tree a while back, but you guys...I know you must feel cheated, like 'oh, you're really gonna do this to us? Thanks a lot, Zeus!' "

I saw them flinch a little, but plowed on.

"The thing is, I know what I know about this place because I've studied it intensely. Well, maybe study isn't the right word..I was obsessed for a while. The big joke? Your gods don't hold any power here. Your cousin's gods do, Annabeth."

Annabeth looked at me like I'd grown a third eye.

"Magnus?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah. He's a son of Frey, the Norse god of summer."

They both looked like you could knock them over with a feather.

"First Greeks, then Romans, then Egyptians, and now this?" Percy muttered.

I smiled without humor.

"Yeah. The thing is, I know exactly how this place works, so you're going to have to do as I say or we're either going to die or be imprisoned in trees."

"Imprisoned in trees?"

"Don't ask. It's not good."

"Okay."

There was silence for a while. Finally I said, "I'm sorry I swore at you, Perseus, I don't usually explode like that. I guess terror does strange things to a person."

He looked a little startled, but waved it off with, "yeah, it's cool. I understand."

There a silence for another long while. Finally, Annabeth asked, "So where are we going?"

I stood up and looked about.

I could see the outline of an island we did _not_ want to land on ahead.

"North. There's an island called Berk where some people will help us." I frowned. "Probably." _Assuming this is far enough in the dragons timeline so that they have dragons,_ I thought to myself.

"There's someone who will probably trust us more than the others."

The boat had turned north, and as we cut through the water at a pretty fast pace, Percy asked, "so who is this person? Who are we meeting?"

There were many answers I could have given, but I chose the most humorous one.

"Why, Jackson, I'm surprised at you. After all you've seen in this place?" I grinned.

"We're going to meet a master of sass."


	3. A few explanations are in order

**A/N Wow, I have so many ideas it's hard to keep track! I went on a five mile hike today and fully intended to finish this chapter this afternoon, but ended up falling sleep for three hours and woke up cursing myself, because, you know, you fall asleep in the daytime for more than 20 minutes and you turn into a zombie with a headache. But anyway I had three free hours this evening so here it is!**

 **Review Replies:**

 **AngelWingsRocks: Yes, a master of sass! I'm sure you know who I mean. ;) And just FYI I mean sass like backtalk and sarcasm, not sass like physically attractive. Though I'm not saying he isn't. And I'm glad too, it took me forever to get it up.**

 **Lauralkelly99: I am too!**

Chapter Three

After I announced we were going to meet a master of sass Percy said something like, "um..okay." And I turned back to the prow. "He's a really nice guy." I said. "He's kind of the 'let's bully him!' kid where we're going, though, so be nice to him."

"What's his name?" Annabeth asked.

"Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the third," I said.

"So...like the person who wrote that book in the library?" Annabeth asked.

"No," I said. "That book was by Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the second. The Hiccup we're meeting knows nothing of this, though, so don't mention it to him. Or anyone else, for that matter. They are completely ignorant of their history."

"Really?" Annabeth sounded shocked. "Why?"

"Well, they're more involved in training the next generation of warriors than in learning their own history." I said. "Kinda dumb, if you ask me. Because they don't know their history, many horrible things are going to happen to them. But I want to change the horrible things. I want to teach them their history. Who knows, I might only delay the inevitable, because Destiny has a hand in this, but I don't want them to hurt the way I know they will."

Percy and Annabeth were silent. I didn't look around at them, firstly, because I was tired, and secondly, because they were probably doing their "communicating with their eyes" thing.

"So," I said. "Want to know about the village?"

"Sure," came Percy's voice.

I grinned into the dark. "Okay, first off, the Chief. His name is Stoick the Vast. He's stubborn, large, and wise. Unusual for a Viking, that. Then there's Gobber the Belch."

Percy snorted, but I ignored him.

"Gobber is the blacksmith. Hiccup was his apprentice for years. Gobber never married, and lives by himself. He's Stoick's best friend. Stoick's wife Valka is missing, _presumed_ eaten, so don't mention her at all."

"Eaten?"

"Yeah. Don't interrupt. There are the Thorston twins, who are troublemakers, have a penchant for pranks, do not display any intelligence at all, and yet sometimes disturb people with their startlingly wise plots. They're Ruffnut, the girl, and Tuffnut, the guy. Then there's Snotlout. He's technically a male Clarisse, except he will flirt with any girl. He's gonna try to flirt with you for sure, Annabeth."

Annabeth made an angry noise, but I ignored her.

"Fishlegs is the brainiac. Don't tell him I said this, but he's really...um..fat. They all ride dragons. The twins ride a two-headed one they've named Barf and Belch, Snotlout rides one named Hookfang, Fishlegs rides one named Meatlug. And then there's Astrid and Hiccup. Astrid is the warrior of the group. She's super hardcore and is really violent, but she's really nice. She rides a dragon named Stormfly. Hiccup is the runt of the village, but he's brought an end to a three-hundred year war with the dragons and rides the one that was presumed to be the most dangerous and is most likely the last of his kind. Toothless, the Night Fury, named Toothless for his retractable teeth."

"Okay..."

I saw the island's outline ion the distance. "We're getting close."

The sun broke across the horizon as we sailed to an island where I could hear Terrible Terrors singing on the rooftops to the morning sun.

 **A/N Sorry, short chapter, only wanted to get basics of Vikings down with P and A. Please review!**


	4. I attempt to be funny

**A/N Hi, sorry for not updating in so long, but, homework, you know...**

 **Review replies:**

 **Ash-210: I am. I'm doing that right now. :)**

 **Zoha Ven: Thank you! Do you mean the movie franchise?**

 **Awolf24: I'm definitely planning on it. :)**

 **Chapter three**

As our boat pulled up on the docks of Berk, I hissed under my breath to Percy and Annabeth as I watched Gobber the Belch hobble along the path to the docks, not even noticing us.

"You remember when I said you'd have to do exactly what told you or we were all going to die?"

"Yep." Percy muttered.

"This is one of those times. To these people, we are traveling story tellers, nothing more. Got it?"

Percy started muttering to himself a bit angrily, but Annabeth elbowed him and said "Yes, we've got it."

"Okay." I stood up and called out, "Ho! Gobber!"

Gobber stopped, looked up, saw us, and walked faster, calling out "Ho!" in return.

As he reached us, I hopped out of the boat onto the dock and bowed.

"Greetings, Gobber the Belch."

I heard Percy stifle a snort, but ignored it.

"We are three travelling story tellers who wish to stay here on Berk for a while in exchange for our wondrous stories. I am Songbird, and these two are Wisdom Speaker and Seafarer. Would I be correct in saying that it would be the Chief who makes the ultimate decision?"

Gobber bowed to me in return and said, "That he would be, Songbird. If you and yer companions would come with me I can take you to him and he can listen to yer request. Where did you say you were from?" He inquired casually, no doubt trying to see if we were some sort of dragon-snatching spies or something, eyeing our strange clothes.

"Oh, too far away to make sense to you, sir," I said, tying the boat to the dock while Percy and Annabeth got out.

"Right then," Gobber said, and escorted us up to the village, through the village, and up to the door of Stoick's house. Unless...I thought with a chill. Unless we were so far in the dragon timeline that Stoick was dead, and it was Hiccup's house...but Stoick answered the door, and so my question was answered.

"What is it so early in the morning, Gobber?" he asked sleepily. Then he saw us. His face went all business-like. "Oh."

He stomped down the stairs to the ground. I bowed, and, taking the cue, so did Percy and Annabeth. When we straightened up, I launched into the speech I'd been composing during the boat ride.

"Honorable Cheiftain of Berk, we are three travelling storytellers who wish for a month on dry land. We would gladly work for a place to stay and food, and we could also repay you with stories, every evening in your great hall. I must warn you that we are from very far away, and so our speech and mannerisms are most likely very different from yours. Please do not feel obligated to hide your dragons from us, as we feel no ill will towards such creatures, and no conviction to steal them. We have heard a great many things about your tribe and your island, so if it is not too forward, we would like to ask questions to clear up the difference between rumors and truth."

Stoick and Gobber stared, and I could tell that Percy and Annabeth were trying hard to keep disbelief off their faces. I was a modern girl, after all.

"Gladly," said Stoick after a short pause. "We have a space in the great hall reserved for traders and storytellers who might come by our island. There is one thing I want to know. Is one of you a bard?"

We all three stared at him.

"It's alright if you're not," he said. "It's just that one of our teenagers has been begging to become a bard, and I thought that perhaps a single lesson might either satisfy him or put him off."

"I suppose I might be what you call a bard," I said hesitantly. "Would the teenager in question be Fishlegs Ingerman?"

Stoick stared at me again. "How in Odin's name did you know that?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Rumors." I lowered my voice a bit. "The rumors also say that his singing voice is very loud."

"Well, the rumors got that right," Gobber chuckled.

I let a mischevious smile leak onto my face. "Where's this Night Fury I've heard so much about?" I asked innocently.

"And what exactly," Stoick asked with a dangerous tone, "have you heard?"

I shrugged.

"I've heard he's the last of his kind. I've heard your son named him Toothless. I've heard that he hates eels. I heard that he once ate an eel and got eel pox. I've heard that your son formed a BrotherBond with Toothless."

Stoick looked flabbergasted.

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It was evening.

We had met the dragon riders. Astrid and Annabeth had struck up a friendship (mostly because Snotlout wouldn't stop flirting with either of them, so they had both taken great pleasure in tying him to Stormfly's tail and taking her out for a spin). Ruffnut and Tuffnut wouldn't stop trying to steal Percy's sword (hey, it was shiny and kept disappearing, and they were the twins). Fishlegs had eagerly peppered me with all sorts of questions about singing, and I had answered them as best I could. Hiccup had been amazed at how much I knew about dragons already, and had offered me a ride on Toothless, and I had eagerly accepted, because TOOTHLESS IS SO FREAKING COOL AND ADORABLE! Hiccup wasn't too bad-looking either.

I had learned (and relayed to Percy and Annabeth) that Dagur was safely imprisoned, and had been but two months. So we were safe on that account. All too soon, dinner in the great hall came to an end. Most of the village had shown up, mostly because they knew storytellers were in town, yay! Even Mildew had shown up, muttering to himself off in the corner. I made a mental note to beat him up with words over the whole "zipple back feet and Monstrous Nightmare claw" thing.

I wandered up to the front of the hall and sat there. People started noticing me and hushing their friends and neighbors. Finally I had everyone's attention.

"Hello." I said with a smile. "I am Songbird, and I am here to tell you a story. Perhaps two. Would you like to choose which story I tell, or would you like me to choose?"

They all wanted to choose, especially the children. So I smiled and said, "Alright then. Would you like a funny story" -I grinned- "a sad story" -I made a sad face- "A animal story" -I bared my teeth- "or a war story?" -I made a ferocious face.

My faces entertained them, but the unanimous call was for a funny story. So I thought for a moment, and then began.

"Once upon a time, not really long ago, quite possibly last week, there was a Terrible Terror named Slip. Why was he named Slip, you ask? Because that's what he did. All the time, he slipped on the grass, he slipped on wood, he slipped on dirt, he even slipped on other dragons! As you can imagine, Slip spent most of his time falling on his face. And his tail. Every evening, his mother would inspect his feet, and every evening his feet would not be slippery in the least! His mother checked his feet every morning as well before he left the nest, and his feet weren't slippery then, either.

Well, Slip kept slipping, and his mother kept checking his feet, and she got so upset one day that she screeched, 'why!? why are my son's feet so slippery!?' And Slip looked right up into his mother's face, blew out a cloud of smoke, and said: 'daddy greases my feet every morning. he says it's good for my scales.'"

Both Vikings and dragons roared with laughter. Toothless came up to me and shoved me off the stool I was sitting on in appreciation. I quickly got back on it and rubbed him behind the ears and he purred, then curled up at my feet with a loud thump.

"Would you like another one?" I asked. The Vikings were very enthusiastic about that. So I decided on one I already knew.

"Alright, can you quiet down?" They obliged. "Since you chose the last one, I've chosen this one."

"What kind of a story is it?" Gustav Larsen called out. "A funny story, a sad story, a animal story, or a war story?"

"Well..." I thought a moment. "It's more of mix of adventure, sad, happy, and animal."

"Oh."

"May I begin?"

"Yes!"

I smiled.

"Once upon a time, a very long time ago indeed, there were four children sent away from home so they could wait out...dragon attacks. Their names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy..."

So I wove together the story of _The Lion, The Witch, And The Wardrobe_ , keeping it mostly in terms that the Vikings could understand, and explaining several creatures, such as Centaurs, Fauns, and the talking beasts, which greatly interested the Vikings.

When I was finished, the Vikings rose to their feet and..well, they did not applaud me, but they were Vikings, and so it was very loud nonetheless. I was very pleased with myself, and soon the Vikings all wandered away to their beds. Hiccup showed us the room off the great hall with five beds that he said had been set aside for when traders and storytellers came (which we already knew) and left us for the night.

I was very glad then that my trip to New York had been on its last day and I had packed everything I'd brought in my backpack...toothbrush, yeah!

Also, for some reason I couldn't fathom, my mother had decided to put a pack of spices in my front backpack pouch. Maybe she thought the food would be bad? I silently thanked her as I put the bag away. I was NOT going to eat nothing but mutton, fish and bad greens during my stay here. No way.

As we drifted off, I could've sworn I heard the call of a Night Fury from somewhere above. The sound comforted me, and I rolled over and fell asleep.


	5. I make myself cry

**A/N Hi! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Zoha Ven: Thank you! Yes, 'the lion , the witch, and the wardrobe' from the chronicles of Narnia. The teens met Percy, Annabeth and Sarah because Stoick introduced them, I suppose, and I think they made very good friends already. I mean...tying Snotlout to Stormfly's tail? Hee hee, priceless. Yes, it is after Defenders of Berk but before Race To The Edge (as evidenced by Dagur still being imprisoned). It's sort of a mix of the books and the franchise and my own imagination. They are the franchise characters, though. The book characters are simply ridiculous. Except for Camicazi, perhaps. Sarah did answer the bard question, actually. And even though Fishlegs does not want to be a bard in the franchise, he is a bit of a poet. "Don't waste your time, boy, nothing rhymes with 'empty'". Oh, that was funny. Yes, this will all be from Sarah's POV. There will be both Hiccstrid and Percabeth. I'm not sure how long they'll be there. Of course Sarah's mother will be worried. What mother wouldn't? Come to think of it, I'm pretty sure Sally Jackson would be worried as well... I don't think everyone will have to be saved from something, Sarah's just trying to get home. But that could easily change! Imaginations are funny things.**

 **Flaming wolf ki (guest): That is a wonderful idea! Perhaps it should be a sequel though, and not a chapter in this story? Because this story kind of already has a course, and a sequel would make more sense than a random chapter. Thank you for the idea!**

 **Chapter Five**

I woke to find a pair of green eyes and a pair of grey eyes watching me. I slowly sat up. Percy and Annabeth were already awake. Percy was watching me with a sleepy look on his face, but his eyes looked wide awake. Annabeth was inscrutable.

I sighed inwardly. I really didn't want to do this. I did it anyway. I used my gift.

I checked Annabeth's emotions, reading her like a psychic.

Mistrust.

Apprehension.

A bit of fear.

Anger.

Nervousness.

I winced a little. It was always hard feeling emotions that weren't your own. I'd only ever told one person about my gift, and he...

I shut that thought off before it went further.

"So," I said. "Why're to two looking at me like I'm the prime suspect?"

"You are." Percy said.

"Of course," I said with a smile. "What would you like to know?"

Annabeth's eyes narrowed a bit. "A lot," she answered. "Like, how exactly are we famous back home? Where are we? How did we get here? How do we get home? How do you know so much about this place? Who are these people?"

"And how come the food's so bad?" Percy chimed in.

I smiled as Annabeth gave Percy a glare.

"Well," I said, "those are all excellent questions. Shall I answer them backwards or in the order you asked them in?"

Annabeth gave me a look.

"In order, then." I said cheerfully (though in my opinion it was far too early to be having any sort of conversation. All I wanted to do was tell them to shut up, roll over and go back to sleep. I was NOT a morning person). "Well then. You are famous back home because your Camp Half-Blood record keeper. Rick Riordan, has written up all your adventures, the adventures of the Kane kids, and is in the process of writing Magnus Chase's adventures. He has published them as fiction. You guys have legions of fans, and Camp Half-Blood T-Shirts are selling to mortals like candy. You two are like, one of the most popular couples in the series."

Annabeth turned slightly pink, and Percy looked at me with a slightly confused air. "Wait a minute," he said. "How did Rick know about everything? I mean, he is the record keeper, but still."

I nodded. "I was wondering about that too. I mean, some of the books are actually written in your first person point of view, Percy."

"What!?"

I snickered. "Don't worry, you're a very funny guy. Your personal observations are even funnier than your slightly ridiculous comments."

Percy stared at me in horror. "Um...okay. But seriously, WHAT THE HADES? You mean all the stupid things I thought about the gods are _all in PRINT!?"_

I gave my best _I know something you don't know_ smile.

"Why, yes!" I said. "And by the way, Aphrodite is way too shallow to read them, so she'll never know what you said about Calypso, so she'll never curse you or anything!"

I re-thought my statement.

"Hopefully."

Percy glanced at Annabeth, then back at me in rising disbelief.

"Hopefully?" He growled.

"What exactly did you say about Calypso that might offend Aphrodite?" Annabeth said in a dangerous tone.

"And we are not done!" I said quickly. "I haven't answered all you questions yet!"

Annabeth gave Percy a short glare before turning to me. "Okay, then hurry up and answer them."

I smiled again (resisting the urge to throw my pillow at both of them and go back to sleep). "Well, we are on an island called Berk, in the Barbaric Archipelago. This is the domain of Vikings. And I believe we are in the time period when Rome was in power."

"You're kidding, right!?" Percy said in alarm. "Rome!?"

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, Jackson, Rome doesn't come near Berk until the very end of this story." I sighed, a deep feeling of sadness coming over me. "Only God knows why the Romans had to destroy the Vikings completely. Anyway, I have absolutely no idea how we got here. Must be some kind of cruel joke by the gods on your part. As for me..." I glanced up at Percy, then looked back at my hands. "I have no idea."

"Why did you just look at Percy that way?" Annabeth asked. Again with the dangerous tone.

I looked up, confused. I checked her emotions with my gift again.

Jealousy.

 _What the holy cheesecake?_

I burst out laughing. "Oh, Annabeth, you really think..." I broke off, choking on my laughter. When I could breathe again, I gasped out, "Are you kidding? If I really had a fan crush on Percy or some stuff like that, this really would be a cruel joke by the gods." I started laughing again. Bitter this time. "No. I don't have fan crush on any half-blood, living or dead."

Percy looked confused.

I coughed a bit and said, "Moving on! I don't know how we get home. Maybe there's a purpose here we have to fulfill, maybe there's some sort of spell or something somewhere, maybe it's a question of speed..."

I trailed off, thinking of the TV show _The Flash._ Maybe not speed, I decided.

"And?" Percy prompted.

"And," I replied, "I know so much about this place because Hiccup wrote down all of his adventures in twelve volumes and threw them in waterproof boxes into the sea when he was an old man. A woman named Cressida Cowell has been finding them, translating them, and publishing them as fiction. The problem is, she's not a very good translator. Either that or she's purposefully mangling the facts. But by some miracle, the Dreamworks studios back home got almost everything right, it would seem. Almost everything. They don't know the fate of this place very accurately. Nor the fate of the dragons. Or Hiccup's inheritance. Or his future suffering."

I realized my voice had started trembling a bit and my throat was tight. It seemed that now I knew this all was real, the horror of the dragon riders' future was really getting to me. I cleared my throat and continued.

"These people are the inheritors of a great and painful destiny. They, but Hiccup in particular, are supposed to make the world grow up."

"The world can grow up?" Percy asked with a funny tone. "I thought Gaea was a grown-up."

I laughed. It hurt.

"What I meant was that they are to make this age pass. A new age of the world will begin with the destruction of the Viking tribes and the extinction of the dragons."

"Can't we stop it?" Annabeth said. "Can't we save them?"

I sighed. "Annabeth...even if we tried, the destiny would pass on to Hiccup the Fourth and his generation and there would be no evasion of it anymore. These things come in threes. Hiccup the First evaded the destiny, passed it to Hiccup the Second. Hiccup the Second evaded it by passing it on to the Hiccup we met yesterday."

"Hiccup the Third," Percy said.

"Yes." I said sadly. "If he knew...well, he would have three choices. One would be to take on his destiny. To love it. To flaunt it. But he can't. He loves dragons. He could never be excited about killing them. Another choice would break into two facets. He could evade his destiny by passing it on to Hiccup the Fourth, either by abandoning humans completely and living as a dragon, or by abandoning dragons completely and never having any friendly contact with them again. The third choice.."

I hesitated. It was a choice, but it was a terrible one and I didn't want to even say it.

Percy and Annabeth could probably tell from my face that the third choice was a bad one.

"What's the third choice, Songbird?" Annabeth asked.

I looked down at my hands. "To take himself out of the picture. To send himself to Valhalla."

"What's that?" Percy asked.

"Valhalla is like the underworld, or its actually more like heaven. The best and bravest warriors go there after..."

"Oh."

They got it. I could tell by the silence.

"If he did that, he wouldn't be saving anything or anyone." I said. "The destiny would still pass to Hiccup the Fourth. But this Hiccup wouldn't have to do it. There's nothing we can do Annabeth. The destiny is his."

We sat in silence for a while, until there was a knocking on the door and... _uh oh_...Hiccup poked his head in.

 _How much did he hear?_ I thought frantically.

None at all, it seemed. He was cheerful as he told us that dragon training would start after breakfast and we were welcome to come if we wanted. We smiled and nodded, but I could tell that Percy and Annabeth were thinking the same thing I was: _This wonderful place is going to be destroyed._


	6. That is why you don't steal from Percy

**A/N Hi! Well, the show I was in (Aladdin the Musical, Jr.) was AMAZING! We all had so much fun! And...school ends tomorrow! YAY!**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Zoha Ven: Well...I mostly prefer the Dreamworks version of events, if they lessened a bit of the stupidity in the shows I'd like them more.**

 **And, yes, Hiccup's destiny...well, in the books there's this discussion of fate and destiny and the difference between them, and I like to think that the dragons only went extinct because Alvin the Treacherous got jealous, changed fate, and caused Hiccup's existence...and really, Hiccup didn't start the war (though everyone blamed him for it). It was Fishlegs's fault. But I suppose what I mean is that when I finished reading the 11th book, I had this whole imagined version of what the Dragon Jewel could do.**

 **In The Chronicles of Narnia, in The Magician's Nephew, Queen Jadis of Charn (who would become the White Witch of Narnia) spoke a word called the Deplorable Word, which, when spoken, would kill every living thing in the world except the person who spoke it. I sort of imagined that the Dragon Jewel would do something like that, meaning, kill every dragon in existence when a human broke it open. That's what I'm imagining Hiccup's destiny is (totally by accident, of course). He wouldn't try to do it, totally the opposite, in fact. But destiny is destiny, and according to the books, destiny cannot be changed, whereas fate can be.**

 **Anyway, I'm sorry if it seems terrible or morbid or whatever, Hiccup's destiny being what it is, but that's the way this story is going.**

* * *

Chapter Six

I glared down at my breakfast.

 _Ick,_ I thought.

I'd had an awful morning. After telling Percy and Annabeth about the fate of Berk and Vikings, I'd realized I did NOT like outhouses. Not in the slightest. I found myself doing something I never thought I'd do: missing public bathrooms. And sacrificing a page of one of my precious books. It was one of the blank pages at the back though, so really no damage done.

To add insult to injury (literally, I had a scrape on my shin to prove it), breakfast was boiled mutton and some form of unidentifiable grain. In an unsanitary bowl that looked like it hadn't been washed from last night.

I shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Astrid asked, plonking down a bowl and sitting next to me.

"Ugh," I muttered. "Just early morning grumpiness. I'm just a zombie in a bad mood right now."

"What's a zombie?" She asked with her mouth half-full.

"Drat," I said under my breath. I scrambled around in the murky depths of my sleepy brain for an excuse, then just settled on the truth.

"A zombie is a pretend creature. It's a human that died and was sort of brought back to life and is a rotting, walking corpse with an unsatiable desire to eat human brains. It's an expression to say you're a zombie when you're tired because zombies are slow and clumsy."

Astrid swallowed and remarked, "Well, let's be glad they're pretend, then."

"Yep." I mumbled. I put my head on my arms on the table.

"Where's Wisdom-Speaker and Seafarer?" Astrid asked.

"They went exploring," I replied, my head still on the table.

Astrid giggled.

"What?" I asked, lifting my head. Astrid wasn't known for such things.

"Well," she said, "your story last night? You know, about female spirits of trees?"

I stared, unsure where this was going. What about dryads?

"...Yes?"

Astrid started chuckling.

"Well," she said, "Snotlout has decided it's not a story."

I stared blankly, my sleepy mind not making the connection.

Astrid burst into unrestrained peals of laughter.

"Snotlout has been talking up trees this morning," She finally managed to say.

I smirked.

"Really?"

"Yep."

I started laughing too.

"That's hilarious!"

She stopped laughing, and said in mock sincerity, "The poor idiot believes that the old pine tree behind his house is in love with him."

We started laughing again, and a minute later we heard someone say, "What's so funny?" And Hiccup sat at the table across from us.

Astrid continued snickering, and I said, "Snotlout thinks a tree is in love with him."

"Because of your story last night?" Hiccup asked while Toothless curled up under the table...or tried to.

 _Well, Hiccup's certainly more bright than some of us,_ I privately observed, but out loud I said, "Yeah, it's hilarious."

Hiccup smirked. "We're not going to let him forget this."

"Definitely not," Astrid said with a wicked smile, having recovered from her laughter.

I suddenly brightened up.

"Speaking of forgetting things..." I said. I reached under the table for my backpack, which Toothless had been sniffing at suspiciously. I rummaged about in the lunchbox before pulling out the only good thing to eat on the island of Berk (literally, scientific tests had proved that these things never went bad): a McDonald's cheeseburger.

Now, normally, I wouldn't eat McDonald's unless I had no other choice. The day before, I'd bought one early for my lunch before the incident had landed me here. I unwrapped it and poked at it experimentally.

"Darn," I said. "It's cold."

"What in Midgard is that?" Astrid asked.

I looked up.

"It's a cheeseburger," I said. "It's...well, it's food. By a rough definition. Where I come from..."

 _What do I say to explain why it hasn't rotted?_ I wondered.

"Well, where I come from, it's made from..uh..magic ingredients that prevent it from rotting. You could keep it almost forever and you could still eat it."

"Can I try a little?" Astrid asked curiously.

"It's cold." I said. "I'll have to warm it up first. That way it'll taste better, and also be easier to chew."

"Okay," Astrid said. She and Hiccup watched interestedly as I took it all the way out of the wrapper and put it on the hearth. Toothless got up to inspect it.

"Don't you dare, Toothless," I said. He turned to look at me with those big innocent eyes. I poked him in the nose.

"Oh, no you don't, Mister," I said while he snorted and went back under the table to pout. I called out to him, "I know all about your sneaky means of stealing food."

I heard a gasp behind me and turned to see Percy and Annabeth coming toward us.

"Is that a cheeseburger?" Percy asked almost reverently. "In this place? No offense," he added to Hiccup and Astrid.

"None taken," said Astrid, taking another bite of mutton.

I glanced at Percy. He was staring at that cheeseburger with an intensity that bordered on utter fascination. I stifled a giggle. I knew about his great love for cheeseburgers. What Percy Jackson fan didn't?

"Oh, go on, Jackson, take it," I said, gesturing to the cheeseburger. "Hang on," I paused. "I said Astrid should have some, too." I considered. "Let's break it in half."

Astrid and Percy agreed, and Hiccup offered his little dagger to cut the cheeseburger. So I tested the cheeseburger (to find that it was warm), cut it in two, and gave one half to Percy, and one half to Astrid. Astrid took a tentative bite before her eyes widened and she said, "This is really good!" Then she downed the rest, regarded her bowl, and said, "I will never look at breakfast the same way again."

Percy watched, amused, then offered some burger to Annabeth (who refused) before raising it to his lips...

And Toothless pounced.

Percy screamed.

I kid you not, he screamed in a very startled way, you know, just a quick burst of loud noise. (Actually, we all made some type of startled noise, but Percy was very loud.)

He fell backwards onto the floor, and the burger disappeared into Toothless's mouth.

We girls burst out laughing, Hiccup looked greatly embarrassed and said, "Toothless! Really, bud?" And Percy...well, he was mad.

Now, most people will say angry things in a rather loud, high(er)-pitched voice if they are as indignant as Percy was. Because, honestly, he was more indignant than mad. If it was me, I'd probably say: "Toothless! You bad dragon! YOU ATE MY CHEESEBURGER!" Then I'd pout a little bit, and be done with it and laugh about it later. But Percy? Oh, no, he was REALLY aiming for overkill.

So...

Well, lets just say Toothless got rather wet. Actually, lets explain the whole thing.

While Astrid, Annabeth and I were cracking up and Hiccup was scolding Toothless, Percy got up off the floor with murder in his eyes (not really, but you get the idea). All the water in our mugs flew out of the mugs and doused Toothless's face. We stopped laughing. Toothless sputtered. Percy looked shame-faced. A couple heads had turned when Toothless pounced, and so they, too, had seen the water moving by itself.

I shot Annabeth a look, like _Get him out of here NOW_.

Thank God she understood.

She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him out to the steps in front of the Great Hall, and I swear I heard her slapping him.

I turned to Hiccup and Astrid. Astrid's eyes had narrowed, Hiccup was staring at the door, Toothless still looked bewildered, and mutters were starting to spread through the Hall.

"What was that?" Astrid asked. All friendly-ness was gone from her tone. I hesitated. Then I had a thought.

 _Well...it's a long shot, as I'm mortal, but I'll give it a go._

I stood up and snapped my fingers. I could feel the ripple as the Mist shimmered. I blinked. So did everyone in the Hall.

 _What the hel..um, clownfish?! It worked?_

"Seafarer dumped the water." I said calmly and loudly. "The water didn't move by itself. He picked up the mugs and dumped them."

Everyone blinked, then all the others went back to their conversations. Hiccup went back to scolding Toothless. Astrid continued eating her breakfast. Snotlout sauntered over and sat next to her.

"Hey babe," he said.

"Go away," She replied. I sat down and smirked.

"Hey, Snotlout," I said.

He looked over.

"Yeah, beautiful?"

Inwardly, I shuddered, but kept on talking.

"What's all this about a tree?" I asked, smiling. Hiccup looked up from his bowl and grinned.

"Yeah, Snotlout," he said. "Which tree thinks you're soooo hot?" He snickered.

Snotlout puffed out his chest and said, "For your information, she doesn't think I'm 'hot', she thinks I'm ruggedly handsome, and it's the pine tree behind my house," he said proudly.

I gagged.

"I'm leaving now," I said. "Come get me when you're gonna start training." Hiccup nodded and went back to teasing Snotlout. I got up and went back to the room where I'd slept. I pulled my backpack out from under the bed and opened my compartment with my toothbrush in it. I pulled out toothbrush and toothpaste and was about to close the bag when I noticed an envelope.

 _Funny..that wasn't there before._

I pulled it out and looked at it. It was addressed to me. So I opened it. On one side of the paper inside there was a single word, spelled out, complete with dashes: M-I-S-T. The M was much fainter than the others. On the other side was a note.

 _Sarah:_

 _I knew you were going to need this. It's good for four uses of the Mist. You're going to need it. Expect gifts from others as well. -Hecate_

I sat down hard on my bed. I stared at the word. _Hecate._ Why on earth would the goddess of magic give me a present? And... _expect gifts from others_...Oh dear. What could this mean? Did the Olympians decide to help Percy and Annabeth by sending me gifts? Why would they do that? What did I have to offer? I wasn't smart. I wasn't strong. I wasn't wise. I didn't have special powers. In fact (as my mother had told me more than once), I couldn't do anything right, I failed at almost everything I attempted, and I was no good for anything. I never argued when she said that. It was perfectly true.

 _What is going on?_

I stared at the note again. I curled up, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them.

 _So tired._

What could I do? With my luck, I'd end up killing someone. I shuddered at the thought. Someone else dead would be horrible. Me dead would be...well, not so horrible. I remembered that old Shakespeare quote: _In the world I but fill a space, which would be better used when I have left it._

 _Perfectly true._

What should I do? I knew I had to help the demigods, but being here, knowing what was going to happen and being powerless to stop it...well, it hurt almost as bad as when I'd lost..well, someone important. No...it hurt worse. I knew these people. I knew their brilliance. Their love for each other. They would be as close as family one day, and then be torn apart...

 _Nothing I can do._

I was gasping now, trying to breathe with lungs that felt constricted, crushed. Tears started pooling in my eyes. I really was worthless. No...Useless. Hiccup wasn't Useless, I was.

 _Nothing I can do._

Actually, that wasn't completely true. I had been told that when I got this bad, to just do something meaningless. Something inane and pointless, but it would be something. I had to get up. I pushed the envelope back into the backpack, got up, swiped at my eyes, and determinedly (if a bit wobbly) marched through the Great Hall, outside, down the stairs, and found a well. I pulled up a bucket of water, rinsed my toothbrush, and started to brush my teeth. My mouth was still full of blue foam when I heard a voice behind me.

"Hey, Songbird!"

 _Tuffnut._

"D'you think she can hear us?"

 _Ruffnut._

"Songbird, Mildew says you're a witch."

"Yeah, he says you put a spell on everyone in the Great Hall."

I sighed though my nose and turned around, trying to talk around my toothbrush.

"I mosth shertainly am noth a withs," I said.

Their eyes widened and they backed away.

"Whath?" I asked.

"Witch!" Tuffnut screamed.

"Witch!" Ruffnut echoed.

"Aaaaaaaaaaagh! All witches have blue spit!" Tuffnut screamed to Ruffnut.

"You don't say!?" She yelled back.

"Gotta tell Hiccup!"

They ran down the hill, screaming, "Witch! Witch!" as they went. I sighed, rinsed out my mouth, and followed.

"Stupid blue toothpaste," I muttered. I thought a moment. "Mildew...dang it! He was watching from outside when I used the Mist!"

I followed the twins down to the Academy, where they were screaming and shouting, trying to convince Hiccup I was a witch. I sighed again. This would take some explaining.

 **A/N So, what do you think? I was thinking Mildew might be a problem...witches and whatnot. ;)**

 **Anyway, I will not be writing again till Monday, so see you all then!**


	7. Of Baths And Bad Dreams

**A/N Hi! Sorry about not writing Monday, I couldn't get to a computer...and then yesterday we went to the zoo with our cousins (who just happen to include twins). The twins DROVE ME INSANE. They are two years old, a boy and a girl, and they are the type to throw fits over the smallest thing. And their favorite thing to do? Run. Away. In opposite directions. I was responsible for them. Have YOU ever tried chasing around two two-year olds? It's NOT fun. They cried when we left the leopard cubs, they cried when we saw the camels, they cried when it was time to leave the seal tank, they cried when they threw their snacks away, they cried when we learned that the polar bear exhibit was closed for feeding time, they cried when I tried to pick them up, they cried when I tried to hold their hands, they cried when they got off the carousel, and they cried when I stopped them from running away with their own stroller. Gah...**

 **Anyway, I had a really weird dream that I'm only sharing because it involves what I'm writing about, and I think it might be inspiration for a chapter yet to come...maybe. So in the dream I was trying to convince Hiccup that he was a genius. And I was sadly failing. It took a while, but I finally got him to say that he might be a genius, and then, because he was shorter than me and because I think in the dream I thought of him as a brother, I put my arm around his shoulders and he put his arm around my waist and then I woke up. (Drat...)**

 **I SAW THE FIRST NINE EPISODES OF RTTE SEASON 3! WHOO! I nearly cried during the first one (who knew Hiccup could be so dark!?)And then my brother insisted on watching more without me...So now he's dropping tons of spoilers and totally untrue spoilers (such as, Toothless was killed, I mean, really?)**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Zoha Ven: He really is, isn't he? Thank you!**

Chapter Seven:

The twins were really starting to get on my nerves. Everyone else had accepted the "soap that is for your teeth that is also colored blue and that also tastes good" explanation without question (except for Fishlegs, who wanted to know what was in it). But Ruffnut and Tuffnut? Oh, no, they were still convinced I was a witch. They were washing Barf and Belch and kept glancing over at me and muttering.

Oh, did I mention it was dragon bath day?

Yep.

Hookfang was really unhappy. He kept trying to run away, but the gates of the Academy were closed for that very reason. He kept crawling around in circles while Snotlout chased him with a scrub brush and a bucket of soap and water.

Meatlug was really enjoying herself. Fishlegs was washing her with boiling hot and then freezing cold water, oiling her claws, brushing her teeth, stuff like that. Occasionally she would roll over and pass gas (at which juncture everyone covered their noses and complained) but other than that she just lay on the ground and wiggled.

Stormfly was happy, too. She was such a picky dragon that she wouldn't even let Astrid wash her, so Astrid just filled up a big tub with soap and water, put in a really big rag, almost a towel, and let Stormfly wash herself.

Barf and Belch were completely indifferent to the situation of being bathed.

And Toothless...well, I was learning how to wash a dragon. Percy and Annabeth were watching me, having passed on learning how to wash a dragon, Hiccup was teaching me, and Toothless..well. Toothless was picky, too. He had to be washed in an exact order, otherwise he would get really upset.

So anyway, I was scrubbing away at a particularly sticky bit of mud between his claws, and I guess I must have done something wrong, because when I reached for the bucket next, it was gone.

"Toothless?"

I looked up at his face. He had the bucket handle in his mouth.

"Toothless, can I have the bucket back?"

"Duck!" Hiccup shouted.

I ducked. The twins shrieked, "Where? Where?"

Toothless flung the bucket at where my head had been a moment before. But because my head wasn't there anymore, he hit Snotlout in the chest. Snotlout stumbled back with a big wet spot on his shirt, tripped over Meatlug's foot, and knocked into Fishlegs. Fishlegs, taken off guard, tripped backwards and fell onto Hookfang's tail. Hookfang let out a big burst of fire. The fire singed Stormfly's newly polished chest scales, and she screeched angrily and whipped out her tail, accidentally hitting both Barf and Belch in the face. They growled and swiped at her, but ended up tripping Astrid, who had tried to run to Stormfly's side.

We ended up with a dragon fight. The only non-participants were Meatlug, who lay oblivious in the middle of the Academy floor, and Toothless, who was watching the fight, extremely amused. We finally managed to stop the fight, and I kept apologizing, but Hiccup just laughed and said it was actually Toothless's fault, Snotlout sighed and said I was too beautiful to be responsible (and then I punched him in the gut), Fishlegs said it was no problem, Astrid said she would pay money to see that again, and the twins were laughing too hard to care.

I climbed up to the stands (or the bleachers, or the benches, whatever they are) around the Academy and sat with Percy and Annabeth while the dragons were re-washed (all but Hookfang, who spent the time trying to run away). Percy was still chortling and Annabeth had tears of laughter in her eyes.

"That..was...HILARIOUS!" Percy said. Annabeth nodded, trying to keep a straight face.

"Guys, it was an accident," I said, but I was smiling. A thought occurred to me and I pulled out my phone. I scrolled through my texts. My mom had sent One-hundred-and-fifty-two texts. My dad had sent eighty. My brother had sent twenty-two. My grandma had sent sixty-four. I tried responding, but it wouldn't work. I had no service. Then I checked my email. I had exactly six-hundred-and-twenty-three new emails. I couldn't send emails either. I tried going to . It worked.

 _Huh,_ I thought. _So I can receive messages but not send them, and I have Internet?_

I tried going to other sites. They all worked.

 _Internet, but not communication. I can live with that._

I felt so guilty, though. My grandma had seemed so worried. My mom and dad had seemed mad. My brother seemed hungry (as usual). He wanted me to bring him back some New York pizza.

I sighed and shut off the phone.

"So you figured it out, too?" Annabeth asked.

"What?" I asked, looking up from the blank screen.

She looked at me sympathetically.

"No communication. You can't call anybody either. I've tried."

I nodded glumly.

"Yeah. I miss home."

"Me too."

"Me three," Percy chimed in.

We laughed.

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The rest of the day passed without incident. Well, any major incidents, at least. Snotlout ended up in the harbor because Hookfang was angry that Snotlout had finally bathed him, but nobody counted that as a major incident. I took to the kitchens in the Great Hall that evening and made a huge, gigantic pan of scrambled eggs with dill for the dinner of the dragon riders, Percy, Annabeth and me, and they all raved over it. I was very pleased. See, dill has a flavor in eggs, but not on potatoes. My mom had taught me that a long time ago. Only use dill on potatoes for decoration.

Anyway, as soon as dinner was over, Percy, Annabeth and I played Rock, Paper, Scissors to decide who would tell a story tonight. Annabeth won, even though Percy had cheated in the first couple rounds by using his finger gun. We said that we'd make him tell the story every night for a week if he cheated again, and he had laughingly agreed.

Annabeth told the story of Snow White And The Seven Dwarves (no, not the Disney version) and was very well received by the Vikings. They had never heard such a story before, and they LOVED it. There was a bit of gagging from the younger children at the whole "true love's kiss breaks the spell" bit, but other than that, Annabeth was a success.

That night I had a dream. It was really strange, because I knew I was dreaming, and I also knew I couldn't wake up until the person I was dreaming about let me. The problem was, I couldn't see their face, or hear their voice.

 _ **DREAM**_

 _I was standing in a cave. It was dark, and damp, and when I held out my lamp, things scuttled away into the darkness._

 _"Hello?" I called. "Where am I?"_

 _No response except a low hiss. Now I felt scared._

 _"Show yourself!" I called out._

 _A figure stepped out into the edge of the light. They were wreathed in shadowy robes, and their face was masked. Bright green eyes shone out from the eyeholes of the mask._

 _"Hiccup?" I asked._

 _The figure shook its head, and I could see its mouth moving, but I couldn't hear the words. It stopped, frustrated, and I noticed that it was tall, and had black hair._

 _"Who are you?" I asked._

 _It pointed to the wall. I turned to the wall, but there was nothing on it. I turned back to the person._

 _"What-" but the person was gone. I looked back at the wall. Now there were words on it. Words written in blood. Some were fragmented, but others were whole._

 ** _Her bones...ever...Heart's Blood...Lover...back...time of time, from time, returning, across the centuries, to save her from burning...missed...The Mist...One moon from home...Staying forever...sacrifice...going home...mask, love, hate, stone._**

 _Beneath the words, there was a diagram that was covered in dust._

 _I turned and left the cave, looking for the person with green eyes. I didn't get far before I heard a dragon's growl and looked straight into the angry eyes of a Changewing. It shot acid at my eyes..._

 _ **DREAM**_

I woke with a start, panting, sure that the Changewing had just burned my eyes out. Late morning sunlight was streaming in the window. I collapsed back onto my pillow with a groan. Percy and Annabeth were gone, their beds neatly made up (although Percy's was sloppier) and I could smell food. The door suddenly flew open and I was assaulted by a few thousand pounds of black scales pouncing on me and licking my face.

"Gah!...Toothless! Why!? You only do this to Hiccup!"

The Night Fury ignored me and licked my face until it was soaked with fish-smelling drool. Then he slid off the bed, sat primly on the floor, and fixed me with a look that said, _get up. Breakfast is ready._

I groaned, got up, found a towel, and toweled off my face before marching into the Great Hall, over to the table where the Dragon Riders and demigods were sitting, flung the towel into Hiccup's face, and said, "If you wanted to wake me up, Haddock, you should have tried something other than sending your dragon to lick me awake!"

Hiccup looked at me with a wounded expression, while everyone else was busy cracking up.

"Leave him alone," Astrid sniggered. "I told Toothless to wake you up."

I stood there with my hair in a rats nest, with my brain still moving sluggishly, and mumbled, "Okay. I'll be right back." And went off to brush my hair. When I got back, Toothless was under the table (well, as much of him as could fit) and was trying to steal table scraps.

I slid onto a bench next to Ruffnut, who was feeding Toothless tiny pieces of fish.

Astrid was saying to Snotlout, "Yes, of course I can take any challenge."

"Oh, really, Astrid?" I chimed in.

She turned to me. "Yes," she said defiantly. "Any challenge."

I let a slow, wicked smile spread across my face. "Okay. I'll take you up on that." I stood up.

I cleared my throat and said in a voice so loud every head in the Hall turned,

"I, Songbird of Seattle, challenge you, Astrid Hofferson, to a dance-off. Winner takes all prestige and honor afforded to the victor. Do you accept?"

Astrid stood up and faced me. "Is it a fight to the death?" She asked, equally loudly.

"No," I replied. "It is a fight to the playlist."

"I accept. Name the time and place."

"Noon, in the Plaza. No holds, no bars, dirty tricks expected."

"What weapons do I need?"

"None at all."

"Done."

She walked away, and I sat down smiling.

"What's a dance off?" Hiccup asked.

"You'll see," I responded.

Percy smirked at me and Annabeth shook her head in a teasing way.

I thought it was a good thing I'd packed my Bluetooth speaker for my trip to New York.


	8. Dance, Baby, dance

**A/N Whoo hoo! Chapter eight already!**

 **So, just FYI, I'll be changing some lyrics to the songs, because I'm not the type to let bad words in songs just go..sorry if that irritates you at all. Also, I have no idea what dance moves (specific ones) are called. Sorry.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **old666: Well, that's partly because Astrid has absolutely no idea what she's getting herself into, and you will see what music and moves!**

 **Awolf24: I certainly will!**

 **Zoha Ven: Oh, no, "awesome" is fine! I don't get very many people saying that about me...or anything I do...but thank you! And the music is Sarah's, she's got it downloaded and bought it, that sort of thing. To be honest, it's really hard for me to imagine Astrid dancing either...except partner dancing with Hiccup...which I can only imagine because of BeyondTheClouds777 and HorrorFan6 (thank you, guys!) but dance-off dancing? Hard to imagine. Well, Vikings will be Vikings, I guess. They didn't have dance-offs back then, when even dancing that way would most likely result in some sort of reputation. And at present, Alvin made peace with Berk and Dagur is locked up, so nothing there...I do have lots of things planned, though, and yes, some will involve combat and things trying to kill them! Oh boy!**

 **Oh No! I forgot disclaimers!**

 **I OWN NOTHING...EXCEPT MY CHARACTER AND THE PLOTLINE...AS MUCH AS I WISH I HAD COME UP WITH THE OTHER THINGS. ALL RIGHTS WHERE THEY BELONG.**

Chapter Eight

I was confident. I had spent four years messing around with choreography, almost every day. The reason was that it was my job to wash the dinner dishes, so I danced while I did them. In fact, I had a playlist I had labeled "Dance" with every song I had choreographed. Heck, I had double-choreographed most of them. Double-choreographed meaning I had two choreographed dances for those songs, one for dancing by myself, and one for dancing across from someone in a dance-off.

As I dug under my clothes in my backpack for my speaker, I realized someone was watching me. I turned to see Hiccup.

"Hey." I greeted. "Have you, by any chance, ever been a judge before?"

"What?"

I turned back around and wiggled by arm deeper into the mess of clothes in the backpack. "I want you to be one of three judges who will judge the dance-off."

"Aaaand...was this planned, or.."

"No," I said, pulling out the little round speaker. "I just decided it."

"What is that?" He inquired, eyeing it suspiciously.

"It's a speaker. Now will you be a judge?"

"Sure. But, Songbird..."

"Yeah?"

"What is Astrid getting herself into? What kind of a battle will this be? I don't want either of you getting hurt. What kind of fights do they have where you come from?"

I put a hand on his shoulder and looked seriously into his eyes.

"Dangerous ones."

His eyebrows shot up, and I laughed.

"Kidding!" I said, going and zipping up my backpack. "Our fights are usually non-physical, unless a bully is involved. This fight is not going to hurt either of us. Unless we trip or something. Astrid is, admittedly, getting herself into something she doesn't understand, I mean, she asked about weapons. Do _you_ carry weapons when you dance?"

He stared at me, befuddled. "Dance?"

"Yeah, what did you think 'dance-off' meant?"

He was really confused now.

"But...how can you dance fight?"

"Oh, you'll see, dragon boy," I said. "Now would you mind asking Fishlegs and Gobber if they would judge too?"

"Why them?" He asked.

"Well," I said, while scrolling through my playlists, "I want the judges to be impartial. I asked you because you're good at that, Fishlegs because he has no romantic feeling for anyone at all, and Gobber because...well, just for kicks."

"Who's going to kick him?"

"It's an expression. It means just because."

"Oh."

"Get going! I have people to talk to!"

He laughed as he left. "Okay."

When he was gone, I put my phone in my pocket, picked up my speaker, and went in search of Percy. I found him at the Academy, making friends with Hookfang. Snotlout was proud that the cool visitor had chosen _his_ dragon to meet, and was lounging on a stack of target barrels. When he saw me he winked and said "Hey, babe."

I glared at him. "Call me that again and I will turn your insides into your outsides."

"Okay, okay." He put him his hands, though I could hear him muttering to Hookfang. I turned to Percy.

"Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," he said. We went over to the benches.

"Where's Annabeth?" I asked.

"Oh, she's training. Said she's been too long _not_ training and wanted to get some combat practice."

I smiled. "Hopefully she doesn't get hit by one of Astrid's axes or something."

Percy gave me a look. "What makes you say that?"

I shrugged. "Oh, Astrid likes to throw her axe at trees in the woods."

"Oh." Percy was silent for a moment, then asked, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well..." I held out the phone and speaker. "I was wondering if you wanted to be in charge of the music? You know, like a DJ?"

He grinned and took them. "Sure," he said happily. "Do I get to choose the music?"

"No," I laughed. "I have a playlist of dance music I've choreographed. I showed him the playlist, and he laughed.

"These are good! You're totally gonna win if you've choreographed every single one!"

"Yeah, well...there are signals we've got to work out. Actually, just one. When I hold up two fingers like this-" I held up the first two fingers on my right hand "-I want you to pause the music. Because it's a playlist and will keep going unless you pause."

"Yeah."

"And you don't need a signal to press play, 'cause I'm just gonna tell you. Good?"

"Good."

* * *

It was noon. A big crowd had gathered, and Stoick, though unsure of this "new kind of battle," as he put it, had let me tell the twins to put up a short fence in a circle to keep the crowd in question from getting too close. Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Gobber were inside the fence, on the edge, and though Fishlegs and Hiccup looked uncomfortable, Gobber was excited to "see some blood spilled." Boy, was he in for a surprise.

Astrid stepped over the fence, and the crowd roared. I took off my jacket, then handed my glasses to Fishlegs and told him sternly, "Don't lose those." He inspected them carefully and I said, "You can try them on if you want, just don't lose them."

I stepped over the fence and the crowd cheered again. Astrid was stepping towards me with her fists raised when I held up a hand for silence. The crowd quieted and Astrid stopped, confused.

"People of Berk!" I shouted. "Today you will witness a dance fight! Astrid, though new to such things, will no doubt do well. But me, I have been doing this for four years! I am the best where I come from! So! Astrid, because you have never done this before, I will go first and demonstrate. All right?"

Astrid stared at me and the Vikings looked confused.

"A dance fight?" She asked. "What kind of a fight is that?"

I smirked. "A fight you will lose, if you back down now."

That got her. She stood up straight and yelled, "I will fight you to the end!"

"Good!" I shouted. "Ladies and gentlemen, twenty-three songs, two-girls, and a lot of determination! Let's hit it!"

Percy must have hit play right then, because the music began, so loud my teeth startled to rattle. I put my hands on my hips and moved with the beat.

 _Doh. (clap) (beat) (clap) Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh doh. (clap) (beat) (clap) Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh doh. (clap) (beat) (clap) Doh doh doh, doh doh doh, doh_

 _This hit, that ice cold, Michelle Pfieffer that white gold_

 _This one for them hood girls, them good girls, straight masterpeices_

Most Vikings were looking at me like I was crazy. Hiccup and Fishlegs were bright red. Gobber looked disappointed. I figured my choreography was what was causing the interesting shades on Hiccup's and Fishleg's faces.

 _Stylin', while in, livin' it up in the city._

 _got chucks on with Saint Laurent_

 _Gotta kiss myself, I'm so pretty_

The red faces could also be caused by the lyrics...

 _I'm too hot (hot yeah) called a police and a fireman, too hot (hot yeah)_

 _Make a dragon wanna retire, man, too hot (hot yeah) Say my name, you know who I am, I'm too hot (hot yeah)_

 _Am I bad 'bout that money, break it down_

People were starting to enjoy themselves, but I ignored them. I was too far gone. You know when you start dancing, you get to a point where nothing else matters except the beat you can feel in every part of your body? Even if the music isn't loud enough to vibrate the ground.

 _Girls hit your hallelujah woo!_

 _Girls hit your hallelujah woo!_

 _Girls hit your hallelujah woo!_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon give it to you_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon give it to you_

 _'Cause uptown funk gon give it to you!_

 _Saturday night and we in the spot_

 _DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST WATCH (C'MON!)_

The plaza was filling with cheers. The Vikings began clapping along with the music and Astrid began to understand, I could see it on her face. I kept going and going and going until the last few lines:

 _Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up (say whaa!?)_

 _Uptown funk you up, uptown funk you up_

 _WHOO!_

I held up two fingers, and the music stopped, And the Vikings would not shut up. I finally had to ask Toothless to provide a plasma blast.

"All right!" I said, when the cheering had died down. "It's Astrid's turn! Should we let her choose the song?"

Loud affirmative cheers.

"Okay. We have GDFR and Shake It Off. Which one do you choose, Astrid?!"

She licked her lips and thought for a moment.

"GDFR." She decided.

I grinned. "Alright. Music!"

Astrid stepped foward, and the song began.

 _I know what you came here to see_

 _If you can dance, the you're dancin' here with me_

 _And I know what you came here to do_

 _Just come on over let me see you just move_

 _It's goin' down for real!_

 _It's goin' down for real!_

I watched as she floundered for the first few minutes, then realized that she had to follow the beat.

Drat, she was good once she knew what she was doing. This might not be the easy victory I had counted on. I would have to step up my game. I noticed that some of the lyrics were making the adults (and Hiccup and Fishlegs) uncomfortable. Well, too bad.

As the last few lines played I stepped forward and shooed Astrid off to the side. It was my turn.

 _I stay out too late_

 _Got nothin' in my brain_

 _That's what people say_

 _mm-mm,_

 _That's what people say_

 _mm-mm,_

 _I go on too many dates_

 _But I can't make 'em stay_

 _At least, that's what people say_

 _mm-mm,_

 _That's what people say_

 _mm-mm,_

I liked this one. The Vikings seemed to like it too...until, well, the song is called 'Shake it Off', after all, and my choreography involved quite a bit of hip movement, if you know what I mean.

 _Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake_

 _I shake it off, I shake it off_

They got used to it by the second chorus, though. When I finished, I stepped back and gestured for Astrid to take the stage...or the ring. Whatever. I was pretty sure that the Vikings would not be very appreciative of this next song, being big on "old-fashioned morals", but I didn't care. Astrid would dance, or she would lose.

 _A RedOne, Konvict_

 _GaGa, oh-oh, eh_

 _I've had a little bit too much, much_

 _All of the people start to rush, start to rush by_

Darn it. I could tell that she understood the lyrics (well, some of them, minus stuff like about the phone) and didn't really like them, but she danced. I noticed Hiccup staring at his feet and trying not to look at her, but I gave him a look, like _I thought you were supposed to be paying attention?_ And he reluctantly started watching her again. I noticed that his face was a very interesting shade of pink.

 _Just dance, gonna be okay, da da doo doo mmm_

 _Just dance, spin that record, babe, da da doo doo mmm_

When the song was over, I stepped forward and began to slowly sway back and forth as the next song began:

 _Oh, yeah_

 _Don't need permission,_

 _Made my decision, to test my limits_

 _'Cause it's my business, God as my witness, Start what I finished_

Yeah, this song was slower, but I liked it. I may have accidentally gestured to Hiccup when the song said "something 'bout you," (and then he turned redder than Hookfang) but that was an accident. Really.

 _Somethin' 'bout you makes me feel like a dangerous woman_

 _Somethin' 'bout_

 _Somethin' 'bout_

 _Somethin' 'bout you_

 _Makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't_

When "Dangerous woman" ended and the next song began, I almost burst out laughing. This playlist was really torturing Astrid.

 _Oh yeah_

 _Oh!_

 _Just shoot for the stars_

 _If it feels right and aim for my heart_

 _If you feel like_

 _And take me away, and make it OK,_

 _I swear I'll behave_

Astrid really didn't understand this, did she? She danced, but I could tell she had no comprehension of the meaning of the lyrics. Until the chorus...

 _Take me by the tongue and I'll know you_

 _Kiss me till you're drunk and I'll show you_

 _All the moves like Jagger_

 _I've got the moves like Jagger_

 _I've go the moves like Jagger_

 _I don't need to try to control you_

 _Look into my eyes and I'll own you_

 _With them moves like Jagger_

 _I've go the moves like Jagger_

 _I've got the moves like Jagger_

She stumbled a little bit and stared at me with horrified eyes, until she remembered she was supposed to be dancing. She resumed, but her face was blood-red.

When it was over, I stepped forward and said over the beginning of the next song, "Let's stop torturing the poor girl! Next song for her won't be so bad, I promise."

I began working my choreography.

 _Crashing, hit a wall_

 _Right now I need a miracle_

 _Hurry up now I need a miracle_

I really loved this one. My brother did too. He had told me it was his second favorite song, right after "Wildest Dreams" by Taylor Swift.

 _So, don't let me don't let me, don't let me down,_

 _D-don't let me down_

 _Don't let me down_

 _Don't let me down, down, down_

 _Don't let me down_

 _Don't let me down, down, down_

 _Running out of time_

 _I really thought you were on my side_

This was fun. I finished and let Astrid take the ring.

 _It's going down_

 _I'm yelling timber_

 _You better move_

 _You better dance_

 _Let's make a night_

 _You won't remember_

 _I'll be the one, you won't forget_

That song was over faster than I thought it would be. I held up the "pause" signal and the music stopped.

"All right!" I shouted. "Who's ready to have both of us in the ring?!"

Loud cheers.

"What does that mean?" Astrid asked.

I grinned. "I means that we will be dancing the same song, at the same time."

"Okay..."

"Play!"

 _Let's come together, singing love and harmonia_

 _We are so different, but we're the same inside our hearts_

 _Beautiful colors, just as far as the eye can see ya_

 _Open your wings, fly, when you hear the call_

I spun around and spread my arms wide for the chorus:

 _Let's celebrate, for we are beautiful creatures_

 _Come spread your wings, and dance and sing songs of freedom_

 _Like la la la hoo hoo_

 _One for the jungle familia_

 _Like ba ba ba boom boom_

 _Calling all beautiful creatures_

 _Come this way celebrate_

The song finished about a minute and a half later and I laughed with the adrenaline pumping through my body. Wow, dancing really wakes you up. "Your turn, Astrid!" I called, and the next song began.

 _'Cause baby now we got bad blood_

 _You know we used to be mad love_

 _So take a look what you've done_

 _'Cause baby now we got bad blood_

 _Hey!_

The Vikings liked this one. They understood feuds and grudges and stuff like that. The song went on and on until the last few lines:

 _Now we got problems_

 _And I don't think we can't solve 'em_

 _You made a really deep cut_

 _And baby now we got bad blood_

 _Hey!_

Astrid moved out of the way, and I moved forward, shouting over the low beginnings of the next song: "This song is for that scene in the movie "The Lightning Thief" about the Lotus Hotel And Casino!"

Percy and Annabeth gave me confused looks, but I ignored them.

 _I wanna hold 'em like they do in Texas please,_

 _Fold 'em, Let 'em hit me, raise it baby stay with me_

 _Love game intuition play the cards with Spades to start_

 _And after he's been hooked I'll play the one that's on his heart_

Most of the adults looked scandalized at most of the song, but they went along, clapping and stuff. Half the teenagers had no comprehension of the lyrics, and the children ignored the lyrics.

As the dance-off went on, we had many songs, one or two fights breaking out among the audience, and one incident of tripping. The person in question quickly hopped up, brushed off her skirt, and continued dancing.

After "Poker Face," Astrid and I both did "Dj Got Us Falling in Love." Then I'd done "Ex's And Oh's," Astrid had followed with "Ooh La La," and then we'd both taken "Footloose" (which was when the fight had broken out).

The Astrid had danced to a pop-rock version of "We Are Family" By Alvin and the Chipmunks and The Chipettes (which was actually pretty good, considering the whole "chipmunk" deal). The I'd danced a pop-rock version of "Shake Your Groove Thing" by the same chipmunks (notice I say 'chipmunks' and not 'artists' because everyone knows it's just computer engineering).

The we'd both taken "Boom Clap." That's when the second fight broke out.

Then Astrid had done "Confident" (which involved the tripping incident).

Then I'd danced to "Roar," and Toothless had decided he wanted to dance, too, at that juncture, so we had one girl IN the ring, and one dragon who looked like a fool (but an adorable fool) OUT of the ring. Hiccup had been really embarrassed.

The Astrid danced to "Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)" and I thought that was an especially appropriate song for someone like her. Then I'd done "Payphone."

When "Payphone" was finished, I held up the pause signal, and everything quieted.

"We're not done yet!" I called. "One last song, together. But I need a favor from our reptilian friends." I beckoned to Stormfly and Hookfang, thinking that they would have the kind of fire I wanted. I whispered to them for a few seconds, and they seemed to agree, based on the head nods...since when could they do that?

Anyway, Astrid and I faced off, and the music began.

 _I know that I'm runnin' out of time, I want it all_

 _Mmm-mmm_

 _And I'm wishin' they'd stop tryna turn me off_

 _Mmm-mmm_

 _And I'm walking on a wire, trying to go higher_

 _Feels like I'm surrounded by clowns and liars_

 _Even when I give it all away, I want it all_

 _Mmm-mmm_

Stormfly and Hookfang came through! Every time the song said "fire", one or both of them would let out a burst of fire into the air. When the song said "fire" for the last time, they each shot a stream of fire that blended into a column of flame stretching a hundred feet in the air.

The song ended with Astrid and I facing each other, and we turned to the cheering crowd. I bowed, and Astrid just stood there panting. I'd pretty much done the same thing after my first dance-off. Okay, I hadn't actually remained standing. I'd ended up collapsing into a chair.

"Well!" I finally said, turning to the judges. "Who is the winner?"

* * *

 **A/N Happy Fourth of July, everyone! And now a list of which songs I used-all rights where they belong**

* * *

 **Uptown Funk-Mark Ronson Feat. Bruno Mars**

 **GDFR-(I don't know who wrote it originally, so I'm using the KidzBop version)**

 **Shake It Off-Taylor Swift**

 **Just Dance-Lady GaGa**

 **Dangerous Woman-Ariana Grande**

 **Moves Like Jagger-Maroon 5 Feat. Christina Aguilera**

 **Don't Let Me Down-The Chainsmokers Feat. Daya**

 **Timber-Pitbull (KidzBop version)**

 **Beautiful Creatures-Barbatuques and Andy Garcia (from the movie "Rio 2")**

 **Bad Blood-Taylor Swift**

 **Poker Face-Lady GaGa**

 **DJ Got Us Falling In Love-Usher**

 **Ex's And Oh's-Elle King**

 **Ooh La La-Britney Spears (from the movie "The Smurfs 2")**

 **Footloose-Kenny Loggins**

 **We Are Family-Alvin And The Chipmunks And The Chippettes (see, again, I don't know who wrote it originally)**

 **Shake Your Groove Thing-Peaches and Herb (Chipmunk version)**

 **Boom Clap- Charli XCX**

 **Confident-Demi Lovato**

 **Roar-Katy Perry**

 **Stronger (What Doesn't Kill You)-Kelly Clarkson**

 **Payphone-Maroon 5**

 **Just Like Fire-P!nk**

* * *

 **You know, my brother just walked bay and told me I was stupid for listening to Katy Perry...says the guy who listens to "Firework" and loves it...**

 **Anyway, HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY (again) and PLEASE REVIEW!**


	9. Good Oldfashioned Screaming In Terror-1

**A/N Hello! no, I didn't die, my family went on vacation and I didn't have a computer that whole time, and then I was in Shakespeare camp (I was the co-director and also Hamlet.) and right now I'm in a two-week writing camp and won't have time to update again until the beginning of September. So sorry!**

 **So...wow. I don't think I've ever gotten this far in a story before! (Confetti! Balloons!) So, those who reviewed (thank you!) thought that this last chapter (Dance, Baby, Dance) was really funny. Well, peoples, there is a lot more funny headed your way! Also some Good Old-Fashioned Screaming In Terror!**

 **Review Replies:**

 **TheMysticalEye (Guest): Well, hurray! My siblings read this and they told me it was stupid. But I'm glad I can make people laugh.**

 **Zoha Ven: Well, I personally don't care what song is new or old or whatever. If I like it, I like it and if I don't, then I don't. I'm really behind, though too. I'm an introvert as well, and I talk to myself, too. Mostly because nobody's around who will listen, right?**

 **Astrid Hofferson: Hear that, Astrid? People like you dancing! Maybe we should do it again.**

 **(Astrid): No chance. It was embarrassing enough.**

 **(me): Oh. Well, since you're here, would you mind doing the disclaimer?**

 **(Astrid): Sigh. Fine. AHaddock3 owns nothing but Songbird and the plotline. All rights where they belong.**

 **(me): Thank you! On with the show!**

Chapter Nine

Hiccup stepped forward. He, Gobber, and Fishlegs had been talking quietly for the last minute or so.

"Well," He said, "As much as I'd like to avoid Astrid's axe-" loud laughter from the crowd -"we have decided that Songbird is the winner."

Loud cheers from the crowd and a death glare from Astrid. I smiled and said, "Good job, Astrid. I was much worse the first time I tried a dance-off. Everybody loses their first one, I'm pretty sure. No hard feelings?" I held out a hand.

She hesitated a moment, then took it. We shook.

* * *

I think I may have influenced whoever cooks the Great Hall meals.

Lunch was surprisingly good for being mutton. I believe they may have ransacked my spices. But oh, well. Vikings. What can you do?

We all had our mouths full (except Hiccup) when Hiccup said, "So, I was planning on flying out to Changewing island this afternoon."

The twins' heads shot up and they grinned...which was pretty disgusting with their mouths full.

"Changewing island?" Tuffnut said. "I _love_ Changewings!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Yes, we know. I wanted to find a scale, see if I can figure out what it's made of. You know, to see how Changewings camouflage?"

"We'll go!" Ruffnut shouted.

Snotlout put his hands flat on the table. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hiccup, have you forgotten that the Changewings _hate us_?"

"No, Snotlout, I have not forgotten." Hiccup said.

"And you wanna go anyway?"

"Yes."

Snotlout shook his head. "I'll come. Make sure you don't die of stupid...of...you know, I can't decide whether that's stupid or brave."

"You wouldn't," Astrid said.

"Hold up," Percy said. "What's a Changewing?"

"It's a dragon," I told him. "It camouflages like a chameleon and spits green glowing acid."

Percy looked ill.

"Well, I'm not going," He said firmly. "I've had enough acid to last a lifetime."

"Wassa matter?" Tuffnut chortled. "Are you chicken?"

"Leave him alone." I said in a threatening tone. "You know nothing about his experiences with acid and poison, so you are not allowed to say anything about his courage or otherwise. Got it?"

Tuffnut looked cowed. Well, that was a first.

"Yeah," he muttered.

Percy shot me a look. _Thanks._

I nodded and turned back to Hiccup. "I'd like to go," I said. "I've never actually seen a Changewing."

 _And I think I really do need to go there,_ I thought to myself. My nightmare was coming back to me. A cave on Changewing island...and didn't most half-bloods or people involved with half-bloods have sort of prophetic dreams?

Hiccup looked faintly surprised. "Sure," he said, but was interrupted by Annabeth, who seemed to be trying to decide whether or not she wanted to come.

"So, these dragons," she said. "what do they look like?"

"They're red." said Ruffnut helpfully.

"I mean...you know what? Nevermind," Annabeth said. "I'll stay here, too."

The sudden remembering of my nightmare was eating away at my mind. Something about it...a man with green eyes... _her bones_...I really had to ask Percy and Annabeth what they thought.

* * *

"Hey guys, can I talk to you?"

I caught up to Percy and Annabeth as our group left the Great Hall.

"Well, that's never a good starting line," Percy observed. I laughed.

"No, not really. Um...have any mortals you guys have been around ever starting having, you know, half-blood dreams? Like, about future or present or past stuff?"

They looked at me funny. Well, it was a funny question.

"Uh..there's Rachel," Annabeth said.

"Yeah, but she's the Oracle."

"My mom," Percy said.

We both looked at him in surprise.

"Really?" Annabeth asked.

"Well, that's a new one," I muttered.

Percy looked embarrassed.

"Yeah..the morning we..um..left, I guess, she woke up and starting ranting about Vikings and curses and gods and fatal flaws and...something else I don't remember. I told her to calm down and that I'd figure it out. She was pretty upset."

He looked worried.

Well, I'd be worried too if my mom had a dream that involved all those things and then the same day I disappear on her. Poor Sally Jackson.

"Why do you ask?" said Annabeth in a suspicious tone.

I looked at the sky. I looked at my boots. I looked at my ring. I finally looked back at Percy and Annabeth.

We were alone, now. The dragon riders had gone off to prepare for their trip to Changewing island and nobody was around the Great Hall. Or in it, I sincerely hoped.

"I, um, kinda had this nightmare last night about a cave on Changewing Island," I admitted.

Silence.

Finally, Annabeth said, "Okay...What was in the cave?"

"Well," I said, trying to remember exactly. "There was a man wearing dark robes and a mask, but I could see his eyes. They were green. He tried to talk to me, but couldn't speak." I re-thought that. "Or else I couldn't hear him. But anyway, since he couldn't speak-"

"Or you couldn't hear him," Percy interjected.

"-yes, or since I couldn't hear him, he showed me words written on the cave wall. They were written in what looked like blood."

Percy grimaced and Annabeth looked a bit ill.

"What did the words say?" Annabeth asked.

"Well," I answered, "they were really fragmented, like some of them had washed away. There was only bits and pieces. But it mentioned the Mist, the bones of a woman, preventing the burning of a woman, something about 'across the centuries', something about a lover, and something about a sacrifice."

"Oh," Percy said.

"Well, we'll figure it out eventually," Annabeth sighed.

"Oh, yeah, there's something I wanted to ask you," Percy said.

I smirked. I was pretty sure what he wanted to ask about.

"Yeah?"

"Well, what you said about 'Poker Face' being in a movie of 'The Lightning Thief'...how does that work, exactly?"

"You mean, how was there a movie of it?"

Percy looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah."

I grinned.

"Well, my friend, movie makers decided they wanted a movie of the novel 'The Lightning Thief', which was your first adventure told from your own point of view. I loved the chapter names. 'I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher'? Priceless. But anyway, they completely mangled the story. Completely and utterly. They completely mangled Camp Half-Blood as well. You're sixteen and driving in the movie. Then, a few years later, they decide to make a sequel, and completely mangled that one, too. In the first movie, you weren't blonde, Annabeth. In the second movie, you were. Go figure. But the mangling of the story! It didn't work! I mean, if Kronos had risen in the Sea of Monsters, would you have been able to kill him with just Riptide, Percy? No, I didn't think so. And the Great Prophecy? Totally messed up that, too."

Percy and Annabeth looked confused. I laughed.

"Later, guys. I'll explain later." I hurried off to find Hiccup.

* * *

 **A/N Again, everyone, I'm sorry about not updating in a while, and I'm sorry about only writing part of a chapter, and I 'm sorry I won't be updating for a couple weeks. Hugs and kisses for everyone as an apology! Love you guys! Thanks for your reviews and favorites and follows! I'm pressed for time so I gotta get home now!**


	10. Good Old Fashioned Screaming Pt 2

**A/N ...Hi...**

 ***Nervously hides behind computer screen***

 **Um, so sorry for not updating in so long, problems are my life, but I've had this chapter planned for SO LONG I just decided, what the Hades? I'll write it now. I've been cranking out a lot of really sloppy one-shots, I could probably organize my writing better on them, but I'm really just cranking out ideas without thought or care for neatness.**

 **But on this, I shall spend a good deal of time and care!**

 **Now...**

 **Review Replies:**

 **GinnyPotter (Guest): Thank you!**

 **Zoha Ven: Awww, thanks. And sorry for the long wait...life is hitting me so hard..**

Chapter Nine, Part Two

Good Old Fashioned Screaming In Terror

"Guys, just don't go looking for a Changewing, okay?"

Hiccup stared at the twins as he said this.

"Seriously, why is he looking at us?" Tuffnut asked his sister.

"Yeah," Ruffnut replied. "It's like he doesn't trust us."

"Not cool, H," Tuffnut said.

I rolled my eyes. "Relax, you two. Besides, you're kind of known for seeking out danger."

"That's no excuse!" Tuffnut said.

"We'll be fine," I told Hiccup. "Besides. Why on earth would we go looking for something that wants to kill us?"

He sighed. "I don't know...just don't let the twins try to take another egg, okay? It was bad enough one time.."

"Okay."

Astrid, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and I had been sent to find a Changewing scale. Hiccup had found a set of Changewing tracks that he really wanted tracings of, so he and Fishlegs were going to stay in this clearing while we went and did the dangerous stuff. How did I feel about it? Well...I was somewhere between thrilled and terrified. I walked between Astrid and Tuffnut while we searched on the ground for signs of Changewing scale loss.

"Hey, guys!" Snotlout called. "Guess what I found!"

"What is it?" Astrid asked. "If it's another Changewing egg-"

"It's not, just come over here and look, you guys!"

We all went over to see...

"Snotlout, that's just a hole in the ground." I pointed out.

"No, wait a second. Watch it."

We did.

After about five seconds a drop of Changewing acid fell into the hole. Then another.

"Um...guys. If there was a Changewing here, wouldn't it be chasing us?" I asked.

Astrid was backing away slowly. "Not if it's sleeping," she hissed. "We need to go now. Quietly."

"Wait, Astrid, why are you whispering?" Tuffnut asked loudly. He'd gotten distracted and was inspecting a colorful bug on the ground.

We heard a growl, low and menacing.

"Oh, gods," I muttered. "Should we run now, or-"

"Yeah, run!" Astrid flipped to the side, away from the blast of acid that carved through the dirt where she'd been standing.

"Why didn't we bring the dragons?" Snotlout whined as we ran.

"Because you wanted a 'nice walk through the woods', remember?" I wheezed. "And Hiccup wanted to let the dragons rest for the flight back?"

"Oh, yeah..."

He yelped as a blast of acid hit a tree by his head.

"Why, why, why!? We're idiots!"

"Yeah, you kind of are...ack!" I swerved and coughed as a splitting side-stitch hit. Suddenly I had an idea. I froze. Everyone else kept running.

"Songbird, what the Hel are you doing?!" Astrid yelled. I didn't answer. They kept going, and the Changewing kept chasing them...completely ignoring me.

YES! I was right! The Changewing completely ignored me if I was still and went for the moving targets instead.

But now what? I had no dragon, and I was completely lost. Huh...wait a minute. Over there. There was a cave. So I had two choices. Go into it, and hope there were no Changewings inside, or go wander off and hope the others found me. I had to make sure that none of the dragon riders saw me. I still didn't know hoe they'd react to...you know. Future. Half-bloods. All that.

I took a deep breath, walked over, and entered the cave. Score.

It was the cave from my dream.

I went to the wall where the words had been written in blood. Nothing was written, but as I touched the wall, I could feel letters carved, in English, no less. Which reminded me...how in the name of Thor were we all understanding each other? Norse. American English. Big difference. Well, no matter.

I started at the beginning of the carved words.

 _As it was written long ago, there is only a designated amount of time for any being to spend in a time not their own. The moon pulls on time, and so it was decreed that if any stays in a time not their own for longer than the moon goes through her cycle, than they shall be turned upon by all the gods and set to blaze on an inferno of their own body. So it was written._

My breath caught. Well, this was a problem. I continued.

 _Hey, Sarah. You don't remember now, but you asked me to leave this for you._

What?

I ran my fingers over that again and again. Okay...

 _So you'll remember who I am, I was supposed to leave you this phrase: Her bones shall lie in the Chamber forever._

Oh dear. The word "chamber" was capitalized. That could only mean one thing. I continued.

 _You told me to leave this poem: Time through time, see what I lack, Heart's Blood of lover, send me back._

 _I don't understand it, but I'm sure you do._

Oh Helheim yes, I knew. It was the words to the only spell I knew of that could send a person through time. However, it was brutal. It required blood directly from the heart of someone who was in love with you. Ugh.

 _But I did some research (okay, fine,_ I _didn't, but you know who did) and we found a way to go through time. Wasn't that supposed to be helpful? I think it was. Anyway, we found this in a super old book of spells:_

 _If from time, through time, from time returning, through the centuries, to save her from burning, is wished to go, then upon these words you must act. So much in this world is missed. In order to see the truth, you must use The Mist. Running here and running there, but only one moon from home,_

Here the carving grew so shallow that I couldn't read it with my fingers anymore. I moved on to where I could.

 _If you do not wish to stay forever in the timeless void where those who die in a time not their own languish, you must perform this ceremony:_

 _One. There must be a sacrifice of something you hold dear. Cast it into the flames that the diagram does describe._

 _Two. You must recite this incantation: Oh great Lady of Time, Tollite me per annos, et ego vivere, ab inimicis, Ta meg hjem over arene, at jeg kan leve lenge, vekk fra fiender, take me home air feadh na bliadhna, agus mar sin faodaidh mi fada beo, air falbh bho naimhdean, Take me home across the years, that I may live long, away from enemies, Domina Magna ex tempore._

 _Three. Before you begin, you must wear a mask. These thing must be in attendance: Hate for someone. Love for someone. And a stone in your pocket to anchor your soul._

 _Four. Do not take off the mask. Do not remove the stone. When you are finished with the sacrifice and the incantation, step into the flames. If there is more than one of you you must join hands._

 _Five. Allow yourself to be transported through time._

How interesting.

 _So, Sarah, that's what we found. We really hope it takes you home. We miss you._

Hm. Well, that was just fascinating. I was about to check out the diagram on the wall, but I heard Hiccup's voice calling outside the cave.

"Songbird! Songbird! Really, you guys, you lost her?"

"It wasn't our fault!" Snotlout protested.

Time to go. I quickly brushed the dust off my shirt and adjusted my glasses, making them lopsided. I ran a hand through my hair, roughing it up. I rubbed dirt on my neck.

"Hiccup?" I called weakly. I pretended to stagger out of the cave.

"Songbird!" They ran over to me.

"Hi..." I slurred.

"What happened?" Astrid asked.

"Dragon...rock to the head." I flapped my hand in the general direction of the cave.

"Okay..let's get back to Berk. Gothi can get you something for that."

"Yeah...okay." I swayed on the spot. "Whoa." I pretended to stumble. Hiccup caught me.

 _Now why'd he have to go and do something like that when I was doing such a good acting job?_ I though irritatedly. _Hang on...this could be useful._

I slumped against him and giggled. "Whoa...the ground is moving."

I still sounded half-drunk. Good.

"Maybe that rock got her harder than we thought," Snotlout said, staring at me as Hiccup tightened his grip on my arms.

"Yeah...you may be right." Hiccup replied as I traced shapes in the air up around his face.

"Well, let's go." Astrid gestured to the dragons, who were watching confusedly. I bet they could tell I was faking.

"Yeah. Come on, Songbird." Hiccup pulled me over to Toothless, who obligingly crouched down so Hiccup could put me on the dragon's back.

"Hmmmm...hello, dragon." I giggled.

"This is slightly disturbing me." Tuffnut whispered loudly.

"Yeah." Ruffnut responded.

 _Ha ha ha,_ I thought. _Girl from the future, one. Nosy Vikings, zero._

* * *

 **A/N So...what do you think of Songbird being an actress?**

 **Love you guys!**


	11. Don't You Cry For Me

**A/N Hello, lovely readers!**

 **So, how are you guys? I've had a TERRIBLE few weeks...**

 **But that doesn't matter right now, Chapter Ten Time!**

 **Review Replies:**

 **The Wizard Rider: Well, that depends on what you mean by "stupid"...**

 **Zoha Ven: Hahaha you'll see. And I'll think about your ideas. :-) And OH MY THOR! YES! I love it when Percy or Hiccup get jealous too!**

 **BlackSwanGirl: AwwwwwthankyouIcan'tmakespaceseither!**

 **GinnyPotter(Guest): Thank you!**

 **WARNING! SAD SAD SAD CHAPTER INVOLVING REFERENCE TO SELF HARM AND SUICIDAL THOUGHTS!**

* * *

Chapter Ten

Don't You Cry For Me

* * *

That was interesting. That was very interesting. That was very very interesting.

I stared off into space while I thought about the words on the wall in the cave. I couldn't stop wondering who had written them, though I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew _exactly_ who had written them. After all..."Her bones will lie in the Chamber forever" was only ever written by one person. On a school wall. In blood...

But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how on earth he had known to do that. If my suspicions were correct, then Berk wasn't our only stop in the timeline. We would be making a stop somewhere else. Which bugged me. As much as I hated it at home, and loved this adventure...well. some things are just too much for anyone to handle, and if I had to watch another hero and not be able to tell them of terrible things in their future, for fear of disrupting the story...well, I didn't know what I'd do. I wasn't a Half-Blood, I knew that. But it seemed as though my fatal flaw was as strong as any Half-Blood's.

The sound of Hiccup dropping something pulled me out of my thoughts and I smirked gently at his cute fumbling while he picked it up and put it back. I was spending the afternoon in the forge, with Hiccup. Toothless was outside napping. Why? Just for the fun of it...and also because it was cool to watch Hiccup work. I had always liked the idea of blacksmithing, and Hiccup was actually stronger than most people assumed, from what I was seeing.

My thoughts started to drift again. Yesterday hadn't really been that eventful after the Changewing incident. I had been taken straight to Gothi, and I explained to her that I had learned something that might be dangerous to the dragon riders, and so had faked an injury to prevent them from discovering it. I was so thankful she bought it. Though she had requested (mimed, actually) that I tell them about it when I thought it might be safe. I had emphatically agreed. That night I had "recovered" from my "concussion" enough to tell a story. So I had told the story of Princess Merida. To be honest, when that movie had first come out I was _obsessed_. I had bought stickers, bags, cups, the movie itself, and practically memorized the junior novelization. And I remembered it well enough to tell a nice, convincing story.

Another clatter caught my attention. Hiccup was cursing under his breath as he picked up the short sword he'd been sharpening.

"You okay, Hiccup?"

He glanced at me in surprise. I guess he'd forgotten I was there.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just...nothing."

I gave him a look, running my gaze over his hands and arms. He certainly seemed fine.

Wait.

Something was off.

I saw it in the way his eyes wouldn't meet mine. In the way he unconsciously turned his arms, rubbing them against the inside of his sleeves. And his sleeves were so long, too! And he hadn't even rolled them up. It was _hot_ in the forge. But...then again, I hadn't taken off my jacket. For the exact same reason Hiccup wasn't showing anyone his arms, I assumed.

"Hiccup."

"Yeah?" He looked up.

"Show me your wrists."

For a split second, I saw the same look of panic in his eyes that I wore whenever someone asked me about the marks on my arms.

"W-what?"

I got up.

"You heard me, Haddock."

I advanced toward him. He backed up. Soon enough he was backed right against the wall, giving me the same look I had worn once when my best friend had made me show him my scars. The caged look. The terrified look.

"W-why are you-I don't-aah, this isn't-"

I cut him off.

"Hiccup." My voice was gentler then it had been a few moments ago. "Look."

I shrugged off my jacket, ignoring his widening eyes, then raised my left arm and slowly began peeling back the sleeve. Hiccup's eyes widened further when he saw them. Line after line after line. Parading around my skin in haphazard rows. White scars, pink scars. Several red ones. A few purple.

"See?" I watched him carefully. "I know."

His eyes dropped to the ground and I could see him take a deep breath. Then he reached for the hem of his shirt.

 _What?_ I blinked. _That is not what I was expecting._

It fell away from him, and he clutched it in his left hand, not meeting my gaze.

I stared. _Oh, gods._

He was surprisingly muscled, but that's not what I stared at. His scars were...more extensive. White lines crisscrossed his body, and the thickest ones, the ones that indicated the most damage, were over his wrists. Both of them. Obviously re-opened many times, ripped and torn until his skinny wrists were mostly bundles of scar tissue around bone.

It was then, I think, that I realized something.

For years, I had been obsessed with this place, these people, yes. But I had mostly been focused on their on-screen personas. I had never really even thought about how they might feel, or act, off-screen. How much they might suffer. What their lives might be like. What their families might be like. I had only ever really focused on their adventures. They had been legends to me. Hiccup had been a legend to me. Not really feeling much other than he might display on screen. But seeing this, this evidence of his clear suffering (I mean, in the first movie it had been clear he expected pain, he expected people to hurt him, and he was used to the emotional pain he was feeling)...Hiccup was a person. He was not a legend yet. He was a hero, certainly, but he was no god. He was no supernatural. He was human. And humans felt. Humans felt joy. Humans felt love. But most often, humans felt pain. Hiccup had obviously been drowning in that pain.

Hiccup was a person, too.

I took off my glasses, knowing that the tears that were gathering in my eyes would fog them up. I looked at him.

"Hiccup."

He looked at me, and I saw that tears were gathering in his eyes, too. Those beautiful green eyes that I had dreamed about for ten years straight. I took hold of one of his damaged wrists.

"My first time was curiosity. You?"

He glanced down at his wrist in my fingers before replying. "Accident."

My heart broke for him. Seeing the evidence of his pain was killing me.

"And it felt good. Didn't it?"

My fingers moved against the white skin of the massive scar that had all but replaced his wrist. His eyes skipped back up to mine.

"Yeah. It did. It just felt like..."

"Like a weight was lifted off your shoulders."

"Yeah. It was just so _heavy_ , and then every time I...you know."

"Cut. You feel lighter. Freer."

"Able to survive."

"Hiccup..."

His lips were trembling, and he pressed them together.

"It's not a good feeling. To be unable to stop."

"No. Songbird, it was _so hard._ "

"After Toothless?"

"Yeah."

"You'd reach for the knife, then stop, and think that you couldn't do it. Then you'd pick it up, and do it anyway."

Hiccup pulled his wrist out of my grasp. I sighed a bit. It had felt nice to try to comfort him. Plus he was warm and his wrist was soft.

"So how did you stop?" He pulled his shirt back on.

I dropped my gaze to by boots. They were blurry. I sighed and rolled my sleeves back down.

"I didn't."

Hiccup's eyes snapped back up to mine.

"What?"

"I didn't stop. I never have." I put my glasses back on, then realized that that wasn't the best idea. I took them off again.

"So...if you never stopped.." Hiccup began.

A tear slipped down my face. "Yeah?"

"You've been thinking about...the next move?"

I let out a choked laugh. " _The next move?_ Hiccup, that's all I can think about some days. It's all I feel is an option. I am _alone._ All the time. I feel that even God isn't listening. At home, I'm just...a ghost. The most alive I've felt in years is when I met Per-..uh, Sea Farer and Wisdom Speaker. When I came here...this has been the most welcome I've felt _anywhere_ ever since my...never mind. The point is, for five years, _the next move_ has been the only thing I wanted!"

I stopped, horrified. Tears streaked down my face and dripped onto my neck.

Hiccup stood and gazed at me with an inscrutable expression.

I guiltily dropped my gaze back to my boots and wiped my face with my sleeve.

"I'm sorry. You don't need to know that. It doesn't matter."

Hiccup laughed gently.

"Doesn't matter? Songbird, all I could think about for years was ending it. Maybe if you feel okay here on Berk...you could stay. For a while. If you need to?"

I looked back up into his eyes. So honest and sincere. But stained with old sadness and tears that hadn't fallen. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. I had to leave, or I would die.

"That would be nice," I told him honestly.

Hiccup sat down heavily on a wooden stool. "Well, you told me about your problems. I should probably return the favor."

"Hiccup, you don't have to-"

"Hey. If you had to suffer, then obviously so do I."

"And why's that, Haddock?"

He chuckled at me.

"We're friends, aren't we? Friends suffer together."

I rolled my eyes fondly. "Fine." I sat across from him on another stool. I had a feeling I already knew what he was going to tell me, but I wanted to hear him talk.

"I'm...not a typical Viking. And...about when I was seven, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut noticed."

"Did they hit you?"

"Yeah."

"How often?"

"Pretty much all the time."

"Hiccup..."

"But that wasn't the worst part."

"Hiccup, didn't your father do anything?"

Hiccup snorted. "Yeah, the first few times it happened, he told me to hit back. I did, and they hit harder. I stopped telling him after that."

I watched him. He wouldn't meet my gaze, but took a deep breath before continuing.

"But the worst part was that..I mean, I know I'm just a total fish bone, but it was just...the disgust that I could see in people's eyes when they'd look at me. It was awful."

"Be glad they didn't totally ignore you."

"No, but...they pretty much did."

"Hiccup, I am _so sorry_ you had to go through that."

"It's fine."

I laughed.

"Hiccup, I would use that same excuse for years and years and years, and I know how an untrue 'I'm fine' sounds. It's NOT fine."

"Songbird-"

"Oh, no you don't, Dragon Boy. You are going to listen to me."

He looked up into my eyes.

"Uh huh?"

"Yes. First. Did they apologize?"

"Yeah, they did."

"Do you still feel hurt?"

"Always."

"Then, Hiccup, it is NOT FINE. You need to let it out sometimes, and I don't mean you should start cutting again. We may be friends, but I'm a _travelling_ storyteller, remember? I won't be here forever. You need to talk to someone else. Maybe Astrid."

He glanced away. "A-Astrid? Why?"

"Look, she cares about you. They all care about you, even if they don't show it all that well. Trust me, I'm very good at reading people." I inwardly reflected on the complete truthfulness of that statement. It was a lot more than it sounded like.

Hiccup glanced down at his wrists, now hidden again by his sleeves.

"Okay."

"Great." I smiled at him, and decided to read him. Just to see if he was okay.

I slowed my breathing and opened my mind, checking Hiccup's emotions. The whiplash made me choke up. So much pain.

On a sudden impulse, I lurched forward and wrapped my arms around him. He stiffened in my grasp, then relaxed, and hesitantly, slowly, his skinny arms came up and wrapped around me.

"Thank you, Songbird," he breathed.

I laughed softly. "What are friends for, Haddock?"

A curious warble echoed from the door, and we broke apart to see Toothless watching us.

"Hey, Toothless." I smiled at the dragon. Hiccup rubbed the back of his neck and wouldn't meet the dragon's eye. That seemed odd, but I didn't question it.

I sat back.

"Better hurry up and get those sharpened before Gobber gets back, huh Hiccup?" I smirked.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

* * *

"Hey."

Hiccup looked up as I sat across from him at the table in the Great Hall.

"Hey, Songbird. It's Sea Farer's turn to tell a story tonight, isn't it?"

"Yep. But it'll be a while. I just wanted to show you something."

I pulled out my iPod and earbuds.

"What are those?"

"Well, you know, I probably should have told you before. This is a machine that records sound, like when you write a word down? It's recorded. This thing records sound. And these connect to it and bring the sound directly into your ears. Like this." I handed the earbuds to him and directed them to his ears.

"This feels weird."

I laughed. "It felt weird the first twenty times. Then they were pretty much glued into my ears. Music was most of what I live for."

"This is for music?" Hiccup looked carefully at the iPod screen, which I had turned on and was taking to the song that I wanted to show him.

"Yeah. This was one of the best. And...it's honestly how I feel about you. You're a great friend, Hiccup. Great friend, great guy, hero, you know?"

"Oh, be quiet."

I smirked and hit PLAY.

I couldn't hear the song, but I knew it by heart.

 _Close your tired eyes, relaxing them._

 _Count from one to ten and open them._

 _All those heavy thoughts will try to weigh you down, but not this time._

Hiccup's eyes fluttered shut as he swayed slightly, feeling the music in his soul. That's what I loved about music. You felt it everywhere.

 _Way up in the air, you're finally free._

 _And you can stay up there, right next to me._

 _All this gravity will try to pull you down, but not this time._

I watched his face as the song went on.

 _When the sun goes down, and the lights burn out,_

 _Then it's time for you to shine_

 _Brighter than the shooting star, so shine no matter where you are_

 _Fill the darkest night, with a brilliant light,_

 _'Cause it's time for you to shine_

 _Brighter than a shooting star, so shine no matter where you are, tonight._

Tears leaked down Hiccup's face as the second verse began. When the song ended, he quickly wiped his face and rubbed at his eyes.

"Thanks." He muttered. He handed me back the earbuds.

I smiled sadly at him. "I would say I love you, but I think that would be taken the entirely wrong way. So I can say you're an amazing friend."

Hiccup laughed. "Thanks."

We settled back to watch Percy try to tell the story of how Mrs O'Leary and Mrs. Jackson met for the first time.

* * *

 **A/N Oh my Thor, I am sorry about how depressing that was. I've been trying to explore Sarah's backstory more, and this just happened...**

 **I've been trying to get longer chapters, too, so that's the first long-ish chapter you'll get.**

 **Thank you for reading this!**

* * *

 **The song in this chapter was "Shooting Star" by Owl City.**


	12. To Hate, Or Not To Hate? (No Contest)

**A/N So...I really don't have a viable excuse for not updating in so long. Sorry about that.**

 **Review Replies:**

 **EnigmaticPhoenix (Guest): I'm glad you liked it. Here's the update.**

 **turtlekier42: Thank you! And your wait is over.**

 **Zoha Ven: Yes, it was indeed a very depressing chapter. And would you mind keeping your deduction on the low-down? It's supposed to be a surprise, where Percy, Annabeth, and Sarah end up. ;-)**

* * *

 _Chapter 11: To Hate, Or Not To Hate? (No Contest)_

* * *

I woke up the next morning rather depressed. Annabeth and I had been woken in the night by Percy screaming in his sleep, quite obviously back in Tarterus in his dreams. Annabeth and Percy hadn't known that I was awake, and I watched as Annabeth climbed into Percy's bed to wake him up and calm him down. He had started sobbing into her neck once he'd woken, and they'd stayed wrapped around each other until they'd both fallen asleep.

Did I feel as though I had been intruding? Yes. Yes, I did. However, I also felt lonely. Very lonely. I wanted someone to love me as much as those two loved each other. And, as much as I realized that their love had been strengthened by all the horrible things they'd gone through together, I didn't want to go through anything that bad. Even with someone else. Well, that was cowardly. But still. It was an unshakable truth that the horrors they'd experienced had forged an unbreakable bond.

Okay. That sounded familiar. Really familiar. The phrase "unbreakable bond" tickled something in the back of my mind, something I was sure was very important. But I couldn't remember. I glanced over at Percy's bed, where he and Annabeth were still asleep. I sighed. I was still tired, but there was no going back to sleep with my brain in such high gear.

So, I dressed in a new outfit from my bag and headed out into the Great Hall. It was still early-ish, and only a few people were there. Among those people were Mildew, sitting in a corner with Fungus, muttering under his breath. That reminded me that I wanted to yell at him about the incident from "In Dragons We Trust." Besides, I got very crabby when I was depressed and wanted an excuse to yell at someone.

I stalked over to Mildew's corner.

"Hello, Mildew."

He glared up at me balefully.

"What do you want?"

I carefully took off my glasses, folded them up, then set them on the table before putting both my hands palm-down on the table and leaning toward the disgusting man.

"I may not be able to prove what you did, but I promise you that I will _never forget it,_ " I hissed, quoting Hiccup.

Mildew looked slightly confused, before realization hit him, followed by contempt.

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

I laughed derisively.

"Okay, Mildew, let's get something straight. I know what you did. I know why you did it. I know what happened. And you know what? I will never forgive you. I will always hate you. And if you tell anyone that I know, I will be having mutton for dinner." I kicked Fungus lightly, and he bleated in annoyance.

Mildew's eyes narrowed.

"You wouldn't dare."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" I sat back and fixed him with a deadpan stare. "Think carefully about your next move, Mildew. I know things you wouldn't even _dream_ I know. I could make life _very hard for you_."

Mildew snorted.

"All right, what do you want?"

That startled me. I hadn't really wanted anything, but now that I thought about it...

"I want you to confess."

" _What?!_ "

"Confess."

He faked confusion.

"Con-confess to what?"

I rolled my eyes.

"I want you to confess to taking Monstrous Nightmare claws and clawing the pillar over there to frame Hookfang, and also to taking Hideous Zippleback feet and taking boots to frame Barf and Belch."

"And what exactly will you do to me if I don't?"

I pretended to think for a minute.

"Well...I _could_ kill you...but that's too fast, too easy." I leaned forward and lowered my voice. "How would it feel if no one saw you? If you were there, but no one saw you...no one heard you...it would be as if you weren't there at all, to people around you. Animals, too. And it would go on for so long that you would wonder if everyone was right...if you didn't exist at all."

Was I bluffing? Yes I was. Not only did I not have the means to do that, but I wasn't _that_ evil. I wouldn't do that to someone even if I could. And I may or may not have taken inspiration for that threat from a different Dreamworks movie...anyway.

Mildew stared at me with real fear for a second, and I was victorious.

Hate clouded his features and he growled out, "Alright, you foul hag. I'll do as you say."

I smiled. "Lovely." I trilled. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must be going now. I have someone else to talk to."

This was perfectly true. I had just seen Hiccup and Toothless come in to the Great Hall, shaking water off themselves. I ran over to greet them.

"Hey, guys!"

"Hey." Hiccup said, wringing out his sleeve. Toothless gave me a sloppy dragon kiss. I wiped it off with a gag of disgust.

"Raining out there?" That was odd, I couldn't hear any rain.

Hiccup huffed in annoyance.

"No, the twins decided it would be a brilliant idea to dump a couple troughs of water on Toothless and I as we walked out of the house this morning."

I laughed. "Do they get a punishment?"

Hiccup snorted. "Them? No."

"Point taken."

As we took a table and waited for everyone else to show up, Hiccup asked where Percy and Annabeth were. I gave him the short version. That they had been through something really horrible together, they still had awful nightmares, and that they had been up last night and were probably still sleeping. He didn't seem too bothered that they were sharing a bed.

In time, the others showed up, and talk turned to the Academy lessons today.

"Well, I didn't really have anything planned for today," Hiccup said. "I just sort of thought we'd go and figure something random out."

My head snapped up from where I was contemplating my bowl of questionable cleanliness.

"Or," I said holding my fork up in the air, "I could teach."

All eyes at the table turned to me.

"You?" Tuffnut asked.

"You don't even know anything about dragons!" Ruffnut snorted.

I raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, really?" I rattled off the dragon classes, then named the weak spots of each dragon that the dragon riders had. I even mentioned Hookfang liking getting his horns wrestled to the ground.

They stared at me.

"But that's not what I was planning on teaching." I finished.

"What _were_ you planning on teaching?" Fishlegs asked curiously.

I shrugged.

"You guys have got enemies, right?"

They nodded.

"Do you know how to bluff convincingly? Can you drive your captors to distraction in a way that won't get you killed? Do you know which dragons to talk to instead of trying to train? How good are you at lying?"

They looked at me funny.

"Well, we all know that Hiccup is a _terrible_ liar." Tuff ventured.

I grinned. "Then that's where we'll start! With your permission, Hiccup, I suggest we head to the Academy."

Hiccup shrugged. "Why not? Just let us finish breakfast first."

"Of course. I'll see if Per-uh...if Seafarer and Wisdom Speaker want to come too."

I smiled. I was _so_ looking forward to this.

* * *

 **A/N So, there you are! It took me exactly an hour to write this, can you believe it?**


	13. Jokes And Riddling Talk

**A/N Must update again...**

 **Review Replies:**

 **Zoha Ven: 1. It's okay. :-) 2. Only location #1. 3.-8. Here is the next chapter!**

 **EnigmaticPhoenix (Guest): Rise Of The Guardians. Thanks, and here it is!**

* * *

 _Chapter Twelve: Jokes And Riddling Talk_

* * *

We were walking to the Academy. Why? I wasn't sure. Did we have dragons? Yes. So I wasn't sure how we'd ended up walking. Percy, Annabeth and I were hanging back a bit. I was doing random dance moves and Percy was trying to copy me. Annabeth was simply finding us amusing.

"I swear to the gods, Songbird, does this not look like the whip?" Percy attempted it, and ended up looking like a demented fisherman. Which sort of made sense.

I laughed.

"Nope," I said through my laughter.

"She's right," Annabeth cut in. "You look ridiculous."

Percy trained his baby seal expression on her.

"You're supposed to be on my side, Annabeth," he whined, pouting. Annabeth snorted.

"Not when you're completely wrong."

I laughed.

"Okay, okay, okay, here's another one."

I attempted the flosser and ended up tripping over a rock in the path I hadn't seen. Percy and Annabeth cracked up.

"See, that's what you get for trying to do the flosser while walking," Percy said in between howls of laughter. I pushed my glasses up and scrambled to my feet, chasing after them while they kept walking.

"Okay, then, Jackson, I bet you'd be _great_ at this!" I shouted gleefully. I stopped walking, angled my knees to point to the opposite sides of me, raised my hands in an almost-circle above my head, and shuffled sideways toward them while yelling loudly.

" _Be_ the crab! _You are_ the crab! _FEEL_ THE CRAB IN YOUR _THIGHS!_ "

To put it lightly, they laughed. To put it accurately, they cracked up so bad they were holding each other up and having trouble breathing. Hiccup and the gang looked back to see us like this: Percy and Annabeth laughing and me in a ridiculous position.

"What in Thor's name are you _doing_?" Snotlout demanded. I turned and shuffled sideways toward him, holding my position.

"Are you _disrespecting_ the crab, Master Jorgenson?"

I must have looked pretty weird, because he quickly shook his head and said, "Nope. Totally not disrespecting the crab. I very much respect the crab."

That made everyone laugh. Hiccup, however only laughed a little before repeating Snotlout's question, albeit in a more polite manner.

"Seriously, what _are_ you doing, Songbird?"

I laughed and dropped the pose.

"Just messing around."

Hiccup shook his head with a smile.

"Well, let's keep going."

"Alright. Hey, guys, come on."

Percy and Annabeth, who'd stopped laughing, nodded and we all continued to the Academy in one group.

* * *

"Okay, then." I surveyed my class.

"Tell me, how good are you at lying? One at a time, please."

Tuffnut thrust his hand into the air, yelling.

"Me! Me me me me me me me me me! Pick me!"

I gave him a deadpan stare.

"Okay...Tuffnut."

"Wait, why are you picking me again?"

Everyone rolled their eyes, and I sighed.

"Because you're supposed to tell me a lie and see if I can tell. Go ahead."

"Oh! Okay, I can totally do this!" He thought for about a split second before declaring, "Ruffnut's hair smells like _fish_!"

Everyone groaned. I face-palmed.

"That's not a lie, Tuff, I can smell it from here."

"Can you? Are you sure that's what it is?"

"Moving on. Who's next?"

Astrid was next. She was good. Total poker face. Fishlegs and Hiccup miserably failed. I knew they were lying easily. How did I know that? Because Fishlegs kept clutching at his fingers and Hiccup fidgeted like mad. Ruffnut was better, but she punctuated the lie with an evil grin. Snotlout was okay, I guess, his lie was in no way convincing however, for the simple reason that everyone knew it was a lie. He said that he hated Astrid with every fiber of his being. Percy and Annabeth did quite well, Percy said that his dog was a poodle and Annabeth said that she'd never been seriously injured in her life.

"Okay," I said. "Looks like we've got some work to do."

For the rest of the morning I instructed them on body language. I'd been a local actress since I was six, so I was reasonably knowledgeable. I helped them with their poker face and keeping panicked emotions suppressed in the moment. I also tried to figure reasonable alibis out for individuals. By the time I was finished, I was happy with their progress. It was about noon, and we were getting ready to go back to the village. Astrid and Fishlegs were going back to their houses to have lunch with their families, and so the rest of us headed back to the Great Hall. Percy rode with Snotlout on Hookfang, Annabeth (misguidedly) got a ride with the twins, and Hiccup gave me a ride.

"That was some impressive teaching," he told me as we were flying back.

"Meh, it was nothing." I shrugged. "I'm just sharing what I know to be effective."

"It was very effective. I don't think I've ever seen Fishlegs so comfortable with lying."

We laughed together and rode in silence for a few minutes.

The silence was broken by my ringtone.

 _Hold me up against the wall_

 _Give it till I beg give me some more_

 _Make me bleed I like it rough rough rough rough_

 _Push up to my body sink your teeth into my-_

I cut it off then as I answered the phone in surprise. I thought communications were down.

"Hello?"

"These Thorstons are insane!" I heard Annabeth's voice yelling through the tiny speaker, followed by a small-ish explosion on the other end of the line.

"Annabeth. Hey. Yeah, they're like that. How did you get this number?"

"I hacked your phone, duh."

"Why would you do that?"

"Well, I didn't trust you at the time! What do I do? Oh, no...don't-"

Another explosion.

"Uh huh. Good luck with the twins."

I hung up before she could answer and chuckled to myself, turning off the sound on my phone. Hiccup gave me a look over his shoulder.

"What was that?"

"The phone, or the ringtone?"

His expression answered the question.

"Well, I'm sure you already know that the phone is an instant communication device, and the song it played is what I put on for my ringtone. A ringtone is something that plays whenever someone is trying to contact you with their phone."

Hiccup blushed.

"Th-that's a song?"

I smirked.

"Yeah, it's called 'Flesh' and it's by Simon Curtis. Why? Did it make you uncomfortable?"

He wouldn't meet my eyes. I couldn't resist laughing. I found that I liked teasing the dude.

"Hey, it's cool, Hiccup. It's just that the place I come from has very...ah...liberal views toward sex and sexuality."

His face turned even redder. He mumbled something incoherently.

I smirked again. "I say liberal because that's the most diplomatic way to put it. I take it Vikings aren't very open about stuff like that?"

"N-no."

"Oh, look, He's stuttering again, Toothless. Isn't it cute?" Toothless looked around at us for a second and laughed at Hiccup's expression.

* * *

When we arrived in the Great Hall, Snotlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Percy, and Annabeth were already there. The twins were chortling about something and Annabeth looked rather singed. She leaned over as I sat down and whispered, "remind me to never ride with them again."

I laughed.

"What happened?"

She shuddered and replied, "They decided to do some target practice on the way back. Went into the woods and exploded things."

"Sounds like them."

"How can you be so calm about this? They're worse than the Stolls!"

"True, but I'm pretty sure that they're not as bad as those dwarves Percy and Leo found in...Italy, was it?"

Percy, hearing this, gagged.

"Nope," he said, "the twins are definitely better."

Meanwhile, Snotlout was trying to ask someone a riddle.

"Seriously, I've got a really good one!" He was saying.

I overhear this and took him up on it.

"Okay, let's hear it."

"Really?"

"Go ahead."

He cleared his throat, then leaned forward and said, "Cold as iron, hard as rock. Hungry and greedy, in the earth it is stuck. For when the sun comes shining down, skin, blood, and bone will turn to stone."

I snorted.

"That doesn't even rhyme. And the answer is a troll."

"A troll?!" Tuffnut's head snapped up. "Where?"

"Nowhere, muttonhead." Ruffnut slapped him.

"Guys, not here, please," Hiccup told them.

Snotlout was looking crestfallen.

"How did you know?" He whined. I smirked.

"I know a lot of things. In fact, where I come from I am known as the Riddle Master because of all the riddles I have memorized."

"Really?" Annabeth was interested now. "How many do you know?"

I thought for a moment.

"About thirty-five, give or take a few."

"Really?" Hiccup tapped the table absentmindedly. "How about you ask us one?"

"Alright." I considered. "Okay, I've got one." I leaned forward and the whole table paid strict attention.

"What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees, up, up, it goes, and yet never grows?"

"A dragon!" Tuff yelled. Hiccup face palmed while I laughed and Ruffnut slapped her brother.

"A dragon doesn't have roots, genius." Snotlout shook his head. "Is it a tree?"

I shrugged. "Trees grow."

Annabeth gave me a sly look.

"Well..." she tapped her fingers together. "I heard this riddle, so I'm not going to answer it."

"Give me a hint," Percy whispered to her. She shook her head.

Ruffnut seemed lost in thought. Tuffnut was muttering under his breath.

"I know," Ruffnut suddenly said. "Is it a mountain?"

"Yep." I grinned. "How'd you figure that?"

She shrugged. "Well, nobody sees the roots of a mountain, and it never grows, even though it goes very high up."

I nodded.

"It took me about ten seconds to get it the first time I heard it, when I was seven. My mom was very taken aback and thought I had read ahead in the book we were reading. I was just that good. As I got older I just kept on collecting riddles and once a guy called me 'The Riddle Master.' The name stuck."

"So people call you 'The Riddle Master' where you come from?" Hiccup inquired interestedly.

"Not really, it's more like it's the name I leave when I write down my riddles places and leave them."

"Why would you do that?" Snotlout asked. I smiled.

"To drive people crazy, of course."

Our afternoon went on and Astrid and Fishlegs rejoined us in the Academy. We didn't really do much for the rest of the day, just riddled. I am pleased to say I was still the best, and nobody else could even hold a candle to me. Hiccup gave me a pretty good run for my money though. As we went back to Great Hall for tonight's story (and dinner, of course) I felt quite content. Until I saw Snotlout and the twins whispering. Those two were up to no good, I could tell.

* * *

 **A/N Hope you enjoyed!**


	14. Really?

**A/N Hello, and sorry about the long wait, but my hiatus was much needed. Now, it's been quite some time since I've written and so I've lost all the reviews for the last chapter, so there will be no review replies today.**

* * *

 _Chapter 13_

 _Really?_

* * *

I leaned forward on my stool and stared the younger audience members straight in the eyes.

"And then," I said, "the clock began striking midnight." A few of them gasped, other laughed. "Cinderella had to run! She ran from the prince, through the halls, across the ballroom, and down, down, down the palace steps!"

"Then what happened, Songbird?" A little girl with braids asked me.

"Well, Cinderella was almost at the bottom of the steps when one of her shoes fell off."

"Oh no!" The little girl cried.

"She had to keep going! She jumped in her carriage and the driver snapped the reins. The horses took off. But the prince had stopped chasing her, for he had found her shoe. So he issued a royal proclamation. He would be going around the kingdom and trying the shoe on the foot of every woman. Young or old, fat or thin, tall or short, it didn't matter, because when he found the fit, he would marry her."

"Just like that?" Astrid called out curiously. I winked at her.

"Yes, Astrid, because he knew that only the mysterious princess that he'd fallen in love with would fit the shoe." Astrid nodded, satisfied. After all, it was just a fairy tale.

After a while, I'd come to the grand end of the story, with Cinderella marrying her prince, and her wicked stepsisters getting their comeuppance. To my surprise, the Vikings had never even heard a story similar to _Cinderella_ , and so the were quite shocked at what happened to the sisters. After a while, people dispersed. Percy and Annabeth joined me on my way to go to bed. After bidding them goodnight, I realized I'd never seen Ruffnut, Tuffnut, or Snotlout after we'd arrived in the Great Hall. That made me suspicious, but I was too tired to think about it. I fell asleep quickly.

* * *

I woke up coughing. Annabeth was crying and clinging to Percy in his bed, and the room was filled with smoke. Percy was hyperventilating, and there was a strange light filtering through the smoke, like fire but not quite. A strange disembodied voice was speaking to us.

 _"There is no escape..."_

My eyes narrowed. I knew that voice, distorted as it was.

"SNOTLOUT JORGENSON!" I yelled at the top of my voice. The whispering suddenly cut out. The flickery lights stopped moving. "GET YOUR RUDE SELF OVER HERE RIGHT NOW!"

The door, which I now noticed was open, swung shut to reveal Snotlout standing behind it with what looked like a tube of wood. He looked surprised. I swung out of bed, stalked over, and punched him in the jaw.

"Ow!" he yelped. "What was that for?!"

"You idiot!" I yelled, shaking out my hand. "Where are Ruffnut and Tuffnut?!"

"Under those empty beds," Snotlout whined, rubbing his jaw. "You didn't have to hit so hard..." I wasn't listening. I stalked over to the empty beds and pulled Ruff and Tuff out by the ears. They were clutching small metal pots with little fires in them.

"Ow-ow-ow!"

"Chill, Songbird!"

I shook them. "You blithering idiots. Slack-jawed muttonheads!" I glanced over at Percy and Annabeth. They were still clinging to each other but they'd calmed down. I felt so horrible. I knew _exactly_ why they'd woken up so scared. In Tarterous, they'd come face to face with the personification of The Pit itself, and I was reasonably sure that Tarterous had said something similar to what Snotlout said, that there was no escape. I didn't really want them to have any PTSD attacks or terrible nightmares about their trip through the Pit, but I couldn't really do much. The least I could do was make sure Ruff, Tuff, and Snotlout apologized.

"Now. Ruffnut. Tuffnut. Snotlout."

"Y-yeah?" Snotlout visibly swallowed. Ruff and Tuff looked at me silently.

"You are going to do what I say now. First, you are going to put out the fire. Then you're going to-all three of you-go and say you're sorry to Per...Seafarer and Wisdom Speaker. THEN. You're going to get the smoke out of here. Then you're going to go away and not come back unless you're invited. Got it?"

"Y-yes, Songbird."

They meekly obeyed. Percy and Annabeth gracefully accepted the apologies, though I caught Percy muttering something. Snotlout got rid of the smoke (employing the use of Hookfang's wings) and Ruff and Tuff put out the fires. I sent them out forcefully, then turned to Percy and Annabeth, who were still curled up together.

"Look, guys. I'm sorry about that. I know what you must have been thinking when you woke up. But you're never going to have to go back there and more than that, I hereby make a promise, though I don't know if it'll work here, I swear on the River Styx that I will do everything in my power to make sure that something like those muttonheads and their prank doesn't happen again."

Percy gave me a strange look with those green eyes of his. Annabeth regarded me with a degree of interest.

"So you know..." Annabeth started.

"About Tarterous?" I saw them flinch, but kept going. "I know about everything. I know that you guys are powerful demigods and all that, but I'm gonna try to keep you safe. 'Kay?"

Percy nodded. I could tell that it was enough for them right now, so I smiled at them and went back to bed.

"Goodnight, guys."

* * *

 **A/N Well, I hope you enjoyed.**


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